The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 39

They seem to be always right up in the angle of the fork, whereas in _Chaptia_ they are often some inches down the fork, and consequently the cavity is triangular on the one side, and semicircular on the other. The cavities measure from 3 to nearly 4 inches in their greatest diameters, and vary from 1 to 1 inch in depth; though strong and firm, and fully of an inch thick at bottom, the materials are so put together that, held up against the light, they look like a fine network.

The eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie, though more elongated in shape and somewhat larger, very closely resemble in coloration the more ordinary type of the eggs of _Dicrurus longicaudatus_. In shape they are elongated ovals, a good deal compressed towards the smaller end. The sh.e.l.l is fine, but has scarcely any gloss. The ground-colour is a moderately warm salmon-pink. It is spotted, streaked, and blotched thickly about the large end (where there is a tendency to form a cap or zone), thinly elsewhere, with somewhat brownish red, or in some merely a darker shade of the ground-colour; where the markings are thickest about the large end, in some only one or two, in others numerous blotches and clouds of a dull inky purple are intermingled, and a few specks and spots of the same colour often occur elsewhere about the egg.

Two eggs measure 109 by 075, and a third measures 098 by 075.

340. Dissemurus paradiseus (Linn.). _The Larger Racket-tailed Drongo_.

Edolius paradiseus (_L.), Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 435.

Edolius inalabaricus (_Scop.), Jerd. t.c._ p. 437.

Dissemurus malabaroides (_Hodgs.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 284.

Of the Larger Racket-tailed Drongo Dr. Jerdon tells us that he has "had its nest brought him several times at Darjeeling; rather a large structure of twigs and roots; and the eggs, usually three in number, pinkish white, with claret-coloured or purple spots, but they vary a great deal in size, form, and colouring. They breed in April and May."

The solitary egg that I possess of this species, given me by Dr.

Jerdon, is probably an exceptionally small one. It is a broad oval, tapering a good deal towards one end, a good deal smaller than the eggs of _Chibia hottentotta_, and not very much larger than some eggs of _D. ater_. Its coloration, however, resembles that of _Chibia hottentotta_, and differs conspicuously, _when compared with them_ (though it may be difficult to make this apparent by description), from those of the true _Dicruri_. The ground-colour is a dead white, and it is very thinly speckled all over, a little more thickly towards the large end, with minute dots and spots, chiefly of a very pale inky purple, a very few only of the spots being a dark inky purple. The texture of the egg is fine and close, but it is devoid of gloss. This egg measures 11 by 087 inch.

Mr. Iver Macpherson writes from Mysore:--

"_Kakencotte State Forest, Mysore District_.--I send you six eggs, specimens from three different nests.

"This bird is very common in the heavy forests of the Mysore District, but the only nest I have ever found myself was on the 2nd May, 1880, and contained two or three young birds. I could not distinctly see how many. The nest was fixed towards the end of a branch of a tree, at a considerable height from the ground, and was almost impossible to get at. Had there been eggs in it I could not have taken them.

"The breeding-season I should say was from the beginning of April to the end of May.

"Three nests, each containing three eggs, were brought to me this season on the 10th and 26th April, and 9th May, 1880, by Cooroobahs (the jungle-tribes in these forests); and although the eggs in each nest vary considerably from one another, there is no doubt in my mind that the eggs belong to one and the same species of bird.

"It is a bird so well known in these forests that it would be impossible to mistake it for any other.

"In one case only was the nest brought to me, and this, which unfortunately I did not keep, was loosely made of twigs and roots."

Professor H. Littledale, quoting Mr. J. Davidson, informs us that this species breeds in the east of G.o.dhra, and therefore probably throughout the Panch Mehals.

Mr. J. Inglis, writing from Cachar, says:--"The Bhimraj is very common, frequenting thick jungle; it often goes in company with other birds, which it mimics to perfection. It lays about four eggs in a shallow nest made of gra.s.s similar to the above; it is very easily tamed. The hill-tribes use the long tail-feathers for ornamenting their head-dresses."

Mr. Oates writes from Pegu:--"I have taken the eggs of this species on all dates, from the 30th April to the 16th June.

"The nest is placed in forks of the outer branches of trees at all heights from 20 to 70 feet, and in all cases they are very difficult to take without breaking the eggs.

"The nest is a cradle, and the whole of it lies below the fork to which it is attached. It is made entirely of small branches of weeds and creepers, finer as they approach the interior. The egg-cup is generally, but not always, lined with dry gra.s.s.

"The outside dimensions are 6 inches in diameter and 3 deep. The interior measures 4 inches by 2. In one nest the sides are bound to the fork by cotton thread in addition to the usual weeds and creepers.

"The eggs have very little or no gloss, and differ among themselves a good deal in colour. In one clutch the ground-colour is white, spotted and blotched, not very thickly, with neutral tint and inky purple, chiefly at the larger end. Other eggs are pinkish salmon, and the sh.e.l.l is more or less thickly or thinly covered with pale greyish purple or neutral tint, and brownish-yellow or orangebrown spots and dashes.

"They vary in size from 12 to 106 in length, and 85 to 8 in breadth."

Major C.T. Bingham has the following note:--"About five miles below the large village of Meplay, in the district of that name, the main stream of the Meplay river is joined by a tributary, the Theedoquee.

On the 4th April I was wading across the mouth of the latter, when my attention was attracted by seeing a pair of the above birds dart from a small tree growing at the very point of the fork where the streams met, and sweep down at my dog, not actually striking him, but nearly doing so. Of course, I made for the tree, and sure enough there, about 15 feet from the ground, in a fork, was a large ma.s.s of twigs, above which was placed a neatly made cup-shaped nest, lined with fine black roots, and containing three fresh eggs, densely spotted, chiefly at the larger end, with yellowish brown and sepia, on a ground-colour of dull greenish white. The whole time the peon I had sent up was climbing up and getting the nest, the two birds kept sweeping round and round with harsh cries. I secured them both for the identification of the eggs."

The eggs of this species are typically rather long ovals, generally a good deal pointed towards the small end. They are dull eggs, and never seem to have any perceptible gloss. The ground-colour varies from white to a rich warm pink. The markings are of all sizes and shapes, from large blotches to the tiniest specks, and they vary in every egg, being thickly set in some, thinly in others, but as a rule the largest and most conspicuous markings are about the large end. Again, in colour the markings vary very much: they are red, purplish red, reddish brown, pale purple, and inky grey; generally the eggs exhibit both coloured markings reddish and lilac, but sometimes the white-grounded eggs have only these latter. Some of the pink eggs are strikingly handsome, and remind one of those of some of the Bulbuls.

Others are dull eggs with only a few irregular grey clouds about the large end, thinly interspersed with brownish-red spots, usually darker about the centre, and elsewhere excessively minutely and thinly speckled with spots too small to render it possible to say what colour they are.

An egg I received from Darjeeling measures 11 by 087; others received from Mynall from Mr. Bourdillon, and the Kakencotte Forest, Mysore, from Mr. I. Macpherson, vary in length from 116 to 11, and in breadth from 084 to 075. Three eggs, taken in Pegu by Mr. Oates, measure from 11 to 105 in length, by 083 to 081 in breadth, and are smaller than those the dimensions of which he himself records above.

Family CERTHIIDAE.

341. Certhia himalayana, Vigors. _The Himalayan Tree-Creeper_.

Certliia himalayana, _Vig., Jerd B. Ind._ i, p, 380; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 243.

Writing from Murree of the Himalayan Tree-Creeper, Colonel C.H.T.

Marshall says:--"This is a most difficult nest to find, as the little bird always chooses crevices where the bark has been broken or bulged out, some 40 or 50 feet from the ground, and generally on tall oak-trees which have no branches within 40 feet of their roots. There were young in the few nests we found. Captain c.o.c.k secured the eggs in Kashmir; they are very small, being only 06 by 045; the ground is white, with numerous red spots. The nests we found were in the highest part of Murree, about 7200 feet."

Two eggs of this species which I possess measure 069 and 068 respectively in length, by 05 in breadth.

342. Certhia hodgsoni, Brooks. _Hodgson's Tree-Creeper_.

Certhia hodgsoni, _Brooks, Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 243 bis.

Hodgson's Tree-Creeper is the supposed _C. familiaris_ obtained by Dr.

Jerdon in Cashmir, of which he gave me two specimens.

Mr. Brooks says:--"It was seen at Gulmurg and also at Sonamurg, where Captain c.o.c.k took a few nests. The egg is much more densely spotted than that of the English Creeper, so as almost to hide the reddish-white ground-colour. Size 059 to 065 inch long by 048 inch broad; time of laying, the _first_ week in June."

The egg is of smooth texture, without gloss, of a purplish-white ground-colour, and fully spotted all over with light brownish red, especially at the larger end. Numerous spots of reddish grey or pale inky purple are intermingled with red ones.

In shape the egg varies from a somewhat elongated oval, more or less compressed towards the smaller end, to a comparatively broad oval, also slightly compressed towards the latter end. In all the eggs that I have seen, the markings were more or less confluent towards the large end. Their dimensions are correctly recorded by Mr. Brooks.

347. Salp.o.r.nis spilonota (Frankl.). _The Spotted-Grey Creeper_.

Salp.o.r.nis spilonota (_Frankl.), Jerd. B.I._ i, p. 382.

Mr. Cleveland found a nest of this species at Hattin, in the Gurgaon district, on the 16th April. The nest was placed on a large ber-tree in a patch of preserved jungle, at a height of about 10 feet from the ground. It was cup-shaped, placed on the upper surface of a horizontal bough at the angle formed between this and a vertical shoot, to which it was attached on one side, the other three sides being free. The nest itself is unlike any other that I have seen. It is composed entirely of bits of leaf-stalks, tiny bits of leaves, chips of bark, the dung of caterpillars, all cemented together everywhere with cobwebs, so that the whole nest is a firm but yet soft and elastic ma.s.s. The nest is cup-shaped, but oval and not circular; its exterior diameters are 4 and 3 inches respectively; its greatest height 2 inches; the cavity measures 26 by 22, and 11 in depth.

The texture of the nest, as I have already said, is extremely peculiar; it is extremely strong, and though pulled off the bough on which it rested and the off-shoot to which it was attached, is as perfect apparently as the day it was found, bearing on the lower surface an exact cast of the inequalities of the bark on which it rested; but it is soft, yielding, and flabby in the hand, almost as much so as if it was jelly. The nest contained two almost full-grown nestlings and one addled egg.

This egg is a very regular oval, slightly broader at one end, the sh.e.l.l fine and fairly glossy; the ground-colour is pale greenish white; round the large end there is an irregular imperfect zone of blackish-brown specks and tiny spots, and round about these is more or less of a brown nimbus, and over the rest of the egg a very few specks and spots of blackish, dusky, and pale brown are scattered. It measures 068 by 053.

Another nest was found about 15 feet up a tree. It was partly seated on and partly wedged in between the fork of two thick oblique branches, to the rough bark of which the bottom only was firmly cemented with cobwebs, the sides, as in the case of the first nest, being quite free and detached from its surroundings. As regards dimensions and composition, the latter nest was an exact counterpart of that first taken. It contained two partially fledged nestlings.

352. Anorthura neglecta (Brooks). _The Cashmir Wren_.