The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 51

The ground-colour is white with a faint greenish-blue tinge, and on the larger half of the egg excessively minute specks of brownish red are thinly sprinkled, except just at the crown of the egg, where the specks are denser and exhibit a tendency to form a tiny cap. On the smaller half of the egg very few, if any, specklings are to be traced.

In length the eggs measure 07 and 071, and in breadth 053 to 055.

454. Phyllergates coronatus (Jerd. & Bl.). _The Golden-headed Warbler_.

Orthotomus coronatus, _Jerd. & Bl., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 168; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 531.

Dr. Jerdon says:--"A nest and eggs were brought to me, said to be those of this bird. The nest was similar to that of the last [_O.

sutorius_], but not so carefully made; the leaves were loosely attached, and with fewer st.i.tches. The eggs were two in number, white, with rusty spots."

455. h.o.r.eites brunneifrons, Hodgs. _The Rufous-capped Bush-Warbler_.

h.o.r.eites brunneifrons, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 163.

The egg is a rather broad oval, a good deal pointed towards the small end; the sh.e.l.l is pretty stout for the size of the egg, and is entirely devoid of gloss. The ground-colour is a pale drabby stone-colour, and all about the large end is a broad dense zone of dull brownish purple. The zone consists of a nearly confluent ma.s.s of extremely minute ill-defined speckles, and outside the zone similar speckles and tiny spots occur, though nowhere very noticeable unless closely examined.

Two eggs of this species were brought from Native Sikhim, together with one of the parent birds; they are regular ovals, slightly pointed towards the small end.

The ground-colour is dull, glossless, pinky white; the markings consist chiefly of a broad ill-defined zone of dull dark purple; the other parts of the egg are sparingly, but pretty evenly speckled and spotted with pale purple.

The eggs measure 066 by 049 and 064 by 048[A].

[Footnote A: I cannot find any note about the nest of this species amongst Mr. Hume's papers. There is nothing beyond the above two notes on the eggs.--ED.]

458. Suya crinigera, Hodgs. _The Brown Hill-Warbler_.

Suya criniger, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 183; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 547.

The Brown Hill-Warbler breeds throughout the Himalayas, at elevations of from 2000 to 6000 feet, at any rate from Sikhim, where it is comparatively rare, to the borders of Afghanistan.

The breeding-season lasts from the beginning of May until the middle of July, but the majority of the birds lay during May.

A nest which I took at Dilloo, in the Kangra Valley, on the 26th May, was situated near the base of a low bush on the side of a steep hill; it was placed in the fork of several twigs near the centre of the bush, about 2 feet from the ground. It was an excessively flimsy deep cup, about 3 inches in diameter, and 2 inches in depth internally. It was composed of downy seeds of gra.s.s held together externally by a few very fine blades of gra.s.s, and irregularly and loosely lined with excessively fine gra.s.s-stems.

Many other nests subsequently obtained were similar in their materials, the great body of the nest consisting of gra.s.s-down, slightly felted together and wound round with slender blades of gra.s.s.

The nest, however, is by no means always cup-shaped; it is often covered in above, an aperture being left on one side near the top.

A nest which I found near Kotegurh is composed of fine gra.s.s _very_ loosely and slightly put together, all the inters.p.a.ces being carefully filled in with gra.s.s-down firmly felted together. The nest is nearly the shape of an egg, the entrance being on one side, and extending from about the middle to close to the top. The exterior dimensions of the nest are about 5 inches for the major axis, and 3 inches for the minor. The entrance-aperture is circular, and about 2 inches in diameter. The thickness of the nest is a little over three eighths of an inch; but the lower portion, which is lined with _very_ fine gra.s.s-stems, is somewhat thicker. The nest was in a th.o.r.n.y bush, partly suspended from just above the entrance-aperture and partly resting against, though not attached to, some neighbouring twigs. It contained seven eggs, and was taken at Kirlee (Kotegurh) on the 30th May. Of course, the position of the nest was that of an egg standing on end and not lying on its side.

They lay from five to seven eggs, and have, _I think_ two broods.

Dr. Jerdon states that "it makes a large, loosely constructed nest of fine gra.s.s, the opening near the top a little at one side, and lays three or four eggs of a fleshy white, with numerous small rusty-red spots tending to form a ring at the large end."

Writing about a collection of eggs made at Murree, Messrs. c.o.c.k and Marshall tell us:--"Nest built in high jungle-gra.s.s, loosely but neatly made of very fine gra.s.s and cobwebs, opening at one side near the top. Breeds late in June at about 4000 feet elevation."

From Almorah Mr. Brooks writes that this species was "common on hill-sides where low bushes were numerous. One nest found was suspended in a low bush, and was a very neat purse-shaped one, with an opening near the top and rather on one side. It was composed of fine soft gra.s.s of a kind which had dried green, and was intermixed with the down of plants and lined with finer gra.s.s. The eggs were four in number; the ground-colour white, speckled sparingly with light red, but having also a broad zone or ring of deeper reddish brown very near the large end--on the top of the larger end, in fact.

"Laying in k.u.maon in May."

From Mussoorie Captain Hutton remarks:--"This little bird appears on the hill, at about 5000 feet, in May. A nest taken much lower down in June was composed of gra.s.ses neatly interwoven in the shape of an ovate ball, the smaller end uppermost and forming the mouth or entrance; it was lined first with cottony seed-down, and then with fine gra.s.s-stalks; it was suspended among high gra.s.s, and contained five beautiful little eggs of a carneous white colour, thicky freckled with deep rufous, and with a darkish confluent ring of the same at the larger end. I have seen this species as high as 7000 feet in October.

It delights to sit on the summit of tall gra.s.s, or even of an oak, from whence it pours forth a loud and long-continued grating note like the filing of a saw."

Writing of Nepal, Dr. Scully says:--"A nest taken on the 29th June contained only two fresh eggs. The nest was of the shape of a mangoe, the small end being uppermost, and the entrance on one side, near the top; its measurements externally were, in height 52, in breadth 36 in one direction and 265 in the other; the opening was nearly circular, 18 in diameter. It was rather flimsy in structure, composed of gra.s.s-down, more or less felted together, and bound round externally with dry green gra.s.s-blades; internally it was scantily lined with fine gra.s.s-stems, which were used to strengthen the lower lip of the entrance-hole. The eggs were fairly glossy, moderate or longish oval in shape, and measured 065 by 05 and 07 by 049; the ground-colour was pinkish white, the small end nearly free from markings, the middle portion with faint streaks and tiny indistinct spots of brownish red, and the large end with a zone of bright brownish red or a confluent cap of the same colour."

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"This Suya breeds from May to June in the warmest valleys up to 3500 feet. It affects open gra.s.sy tracts, and builds its nest in a bunch of gra.s.s, within a foot or two of the ground. The nest is an extremely neat egg-shaped structure, with entrance at side, made of fine gra.s.s-stems thickly felted over with the white seeds of a tall flowering gra.s.s, which gives it a very pretty appearance. Externally it measures 5 inches in height by 3 in diameter; the cavity is 225 wide and 2 deep, from lower edge of entrance. The entrance is about 225 across.

"The usual number of eggs is four. I have never found more, but on several occasions as few as two and three well-incubated eggs."

A nest of this species taken by Mr. Gammie near Mongphoo, on the 18th April, at an elevation of about 3000 feet, contained three fresh eggs.

It closely resembles nests that I have taken of _S. crinigera_ in shape, somewhat like an egg, with the entrance on one side, near the top, exteriorly about 5 inches in length, and 2 inches in diameter, with an aperture a little less than 2 inches across. It was built amongst gra.s.s, of which a few fine stalks const.i.tute the outer framework, and the whole body of the nest inside this framework consists solely of the flower-down of gra.s.s firmly felted together. It is lined pretty thickly everywhere with the excessively fine stalks which bear this down.

Taking a large series, I should describe the eggs as typically regular but somewhat elongated ovals, often fairly glossy, at times almost glossless. The ground varies from pale pinky white to pale salmon-colour. A dense, more or less mottled, zone or cap at the large end, varying in different specimens from reddish pink to almost brick-red, and more or less of speckling, mottling, or freckling of a somewhat lighter shade than the zone spreads in some thinly, in some densely over the rest of the egg.

In length they vary from 063 to 075, and in breadth from 046 to 055; but the average of sixty-five eggs is 069 by 052.

459. Suya atrigularis, Moore[A]. _The Black-throated Hill-Warbler_.

[Footnote A: I reproduce this article nearly as it appears in the 'Rough Draft;' but I have great doubts as to the occurrence of this bird in k.u.maon, and I further doubt the identification of Hodgson's notes with this species. It is quite clear, from his specimens in the British Museum, that Hodgson confounded _S. atrigularis_ in winter plumage with _S. crinigera_, and his plate of the former in summer plumage contains no note on nidification.--ED.]

Suya atrogularis, _Moore, Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 184; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 549.

The Black-throated Hill-Warbler breeds in k.u.maon and the Himalayas eastwards from thence, at elevations of 4000 to 6000 feet.

The breeding-season lasts from April to July, but the birds mostly lay in May and June. Open gra.s.sy hillsides dotted about with scrub, thin forests, or gardens are the localities it affects. The nest is placed at times in some low bush surrounded with and grown through by gra.s.s, more commonly in clumps of gra.s.s, and never at any great height from the ground. It is more or less egg-shaped, and placed with the longer diameter vertical, the entrance being on one side above the middle. It is composed exteriorly sometimes of fine gra.s.s-roots, sometimes of the finest possible gra.s.s, loosely but sufficiently firmly interwoven, a little moss being often incorporated in the upper portion, and internally always, I think, exclusively of fine gra.s.s.

Four is perhaps the usual number of the eggs, but I have found five.

Mr. Gammie, writing from Sikhim, says:--"I have found four nests of this species this year in the Chinchona reserves, at elevations of from 4500 to 5500 feet, during the months of May and June. The nests were all in open gra.s.sy country, in gra.s.s by the sides of low banks, and not above a foot off the ground. They are globular, with a lateral entrance, composed of gra.s.s, and with a little moss about the dome. One I measured was 55 high, and 45 in diameter externally; internally the nest was 24 in diameter, and the cavity had a total height of 39, of which 2 inches was below the lower edge of the entrance. According to my experience four is the regular complement of eggs. I have repeatedly (three times this year) shot the female off the nest, and beyond question Jerdon is wrong about this bird's laying Indian-red eggs."

According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, this species breeds in groves and open forest in Sikhim and the central region of Nepal from April to June, building a large globular nest in clumps of gra.s.s, of dry gra.s.s, roots, and moss, lined with fine gra.s.s and moss-roots. The entrance, which is circular, is at one side; the nest is egg-shaped, the longer diameter being perpendicular, and is placed at a height of about 6 inches from the ground. A nest taken on the 30th. May measured 612 in height and 35 in diameter externally, and the circular aperture, which was just above the middle, was 175 in diameter. It contained four eggs, which are represented as ovals, a good deal pointed towards one end, measuring 069 by 055. The ground-colour is a pale green, and they are speckled and spotted with bright red, the markings being most numerous towards the large end, where they have a tendency to form a zone or cap.

Dr. Jerdon says that "it makes its nest of fine gra.s.s and withered stalks, large, very loosely put together, globular, with a hole near the top, and lays three or four eggs of an entirely dull Indian-red colour." This undoubtedly is a mistake; the eggs he refers to are, I think, those of _Neornis flavolivaceus_. He gave them to me, but was not certain of the species they belonged to.

The eggs of the present species are of much the same shape as those of the preceding, and there is a certain similarity in the colour of both; but in these eggs the ground-colour instead of being pink or pinky white, is a pale, delicate, sometimes greyish, green. Then though there is the same kind of zone round the large end, it is a purple or purplish, instead of a brick-red, and it is manifestly made up of innumerable minute specks, and has not the cloudy confluent character of the zone in _S. crinigera_. Outside the zone minute specks of the same purplish red are scattered, in some pretty thickly, in others spa.r.s.ely, over the whole of the rest of the surface. As a body the eggs have a faint gloss, decidedly less, however, than those of _S. crinigera_, but some few are absolutely glossless.

In length the eggs vary from 063 to 079, and in breadth from 046 to 043; but the average of forty-five eggs is 068 by 05.

460. Suya khasiana, G.o.dw.-Aust. _Austen's Hill-Warbler_.

Suya khasiana, _G.o.dw.-Aust., Hume, cat._ no. 549 bis.

I found this bird high up in the eastern hills of Mauipur, frequenting dense herbaceous undergrowth of balsams and the like in forest. On the 11th of May I caught a female on her nest, containing four well-incubated eggs. The nest was placed in a wild ginger-plant, about two feet from the ground, in forest at the very summit of the Makhi hill.