The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 64

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"The nest found on the 24th May was suspended from a small fork of a neem-tree about ten feet from the ground, and was very neatly built of dry gra.s.s (fine interiorly, coa.r.s.e exteriorly), old rags, and cotton (woven, not raw). The rim was firmly bound to the branches of the fork with rags and coa.r.s.e blades of dry gra.s.s. It is an easy nest to find when the birds are building, as both birds are always together and keep constantly flying to and from the nest with materials for building. The c.o.c.k, as before mentioned, always accompanies the hen to and from the nest whilst she is building; but I do not think he a.s.sists in its construction, as I never saw him carrying any of the materials, neither have I ever seen him on the nest. On the contrary, whilst the hen is at the nest building he is generally waiting for her, either on the same tree or else on another close by, occasionally uttering his well-known rich mellow note. On the 29th May I sent a boy up a tree to examine a nest. The hen bird had been sitting for a week, and was on the nest when the boy ascended the tree. The c.o.c.k bird flew past, and being a brilliant specimen I shot him, thinking of course that the nest contained a full complement of eggs. To my astonishment, however, though the hen bird sat very close, there were no eggs in the nest, and although she returned to it once or twice afterwards, she eventually forsook it without laying. Possibly she may have laid, and that the eggs were destroyed by Crows. In addition to the materials already mentioned, this nest was also composed of tow, string, and strips of paper, all neatly woven into the exterior, and many of the other nests mentioned were exactly similar; sometimes I have found pieces of snake-skin woven into the exterior.

"On the 9th of July I observed a pair of Orioles building on a neem-tree in one of the compounds in Deesa. When the nest was nearly finished a gale of wind rose one night and scattered it all over the bough it was fixed to. The birds at once commenced to remove it, and in a couple of days carried off: every particle of it to another tree about 100 yards off, upon which they built a new nest of the materials they had removed from the other tree. I ascended the tree on the 17th of July, and found it contained three fresh eggs.

"The eggs are pure white, sparingly spotted with moderately-sized blackish-looking spots, if washed the spots run. They vary a good deal in shape and size, some being very perfect ovals, others greatly elongated, &c."

Major C.T. Bingham writes:--"The Indian Oriole builds at Allahabad and at Delhi from the beginning of April to the end of July. In the cold weather this bird seems to migrate more or less, as but few are seen and none heard during that season. The nests are built generally at the top of mango-trees and well concealed; they are constructed of fine gra.s.s, beautifully soft, mixed with strips of plaintain-bark, with which, or with strips of cotton cloth purloined from somewhere, the nest is usually bound to a fork in the branch. The egg-cavity is pretty deep, that is to say from 1 to 3 inches."

Mr. George Reid records the following note from Lucknow:--"The Mango-bird, or Indian Oriole, though a permanent resident, is never so abundant during the cold weather as it is during the hot and rainy seasons from about the time the mango-trees begin to bloom to the end of September. It frequents gardens, avenues, mango-topes, and is frequently seen in open country, taking long flights between trees, princ.i.p.ally the banian and other _Fici_, upon the berries and buds of which it feeds. I have the following record of its nests:--

"June 16th. Nest and no eggs (building).

July 2nd. 2 eggs (fresh).

July 2nd. 1 egg (fresh).

July 5th. 3 eggs (fresh).

July 25th. 3 young (just hatched).

August 5th. 2 young (fledged)."

Messrs. Davidson and Wenden, writing of this bird in the Deccan, say:--"Common, and breeds in June and July."

Colonel A.C. McMaster informs us that he "found several nests of this bird at Kamptee during June and July; they corresponded exactly with Jerdon's admirable description. Has any writer mentioned that this bird has a faint, but very sweet and plaintive song, which he continues for a considerable time? I have only heard it when a family, old and young, were together, _i.e._ at the close of the breeding-season."

Lieut. H.E. Barnes, writing of Rajpootana in general, tells us that this Oriole breeds during July and August.

Mr. C.J.W. Taylor, speaking of Manzeerabad in Mysore, says:--"Abundant in the plains. Rare in the higher portions of the district. Breeding in June and July."

The eggs are typically a moderately elongated oval, tapering a good deal towards one end, but they vary much in shape as well as size.

Some are pyriform, and some very long and cylindrical, quite the shape of the egg of a Cormorant or Solan Goose, or that of a Diver. They are always of a pure excessively glossy china-white, which, when they are fresh and unblown, appears suffused with a delicate salmon-pink, caused by the partial translucency of the sh.e.l.l. Well-defined spots and specks, typically black, are more or less thinly sprinkled over the surface of the egg, chiefly at the large end. Normally, as I said, the spots are black and sharply defined, and there are neither blotches nor splashes, but numerous variations occur. Sometimes, as in an egg sent me by Mr. Nunn, all the spots are pale yellowish brown.

Sometimes, as in an egg I took at Bareilly, a few spots of this colour are mingled with the black ones. Deep reddish brown often takes the place of the typical black, and the spots are not very unfrequently surrounded by a more or less extensive brownish-pink nimbus, which in one egg I have is so extensive that the ground-colour of the whole of the large end appears to be a delicate pink. Occasionally several of the clear-cut spots appear to run together and form a coa.r.s.e irregular blotch, and one egg I possess exhibits on one side a large splash. The eggs as a body, as might have been expected, closely resemble those of the Golden Oriole, to which the bird itself is so nearly related; and as observed by Professor Newton in regard to the eggs of that species, so in _my_ large series, the prevalence of greatly elongated examples is remarkable.

The eggs vary in length from 103 to 132, and from 075 to 087 in breadth; but the average of fifty eggs measured was 111 by 081.

521. Oriolus melanocephalus(Linn.). _The Indian Black-headed Oriole_.

Oriolus melanocephalus, _Linn., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 110; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E_ no. 472.

Oriolus ceylonensis, _Bonap., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 111.

I have already noticed ('Stray Feathers,' vol. i, p. 439) how impossible it is to draw any hard-and-fast line, in practice, between this the so-called "Bengal Black-headed Oriole" and the supposed distinct southern species, _O. ceylonensis_, Bp.

The present species certainly breeds in suitable (i.e. well-wooded and not too bare or arid) localities throughout Northern and Central India, a.s.sam, and Burma, and I have specimens from Mahableshwar, from the Nilgiris, and even Anjango, that are nearer to typical _O.

melanocephalus_ than to typical _O. ceylonensis_. Of its nidification southwards I know nothing. I have only myself taken its eggs in the neighbourhood of Calcutta.

It appears to lay from April to the end of August. The nest of this species, though perhaps slightly deeper, is very much like that of _O.

kundoo_; it is a deep cup, carefully suspended between two twigs, and is composed chiefly of tow-like vegetable fibres, thin slips of bark and the like, and is internally lined with very fine tamarisk twigs or fine gra.s.s, and is externally generally more or less covered over with odds and ends, bits of lichen, thin flakes of bark, &c. It is slightly smaller than the average run of the nests of _O. kundoo_. The egg-cavity measures about 3 inches in diameter and nearly 2 inches in depth. I myself have never found more than three eggs, but I daresay that, like _O. kundoo_, it may not unfrequently lay four.

The late Captain Beavan writes:--"A nest with three eggs, brought to me in Manbhoom on 5th April, 1865, is cup-shaped; interior diameter 35, depth inside 2 inches. It is composed outside of woolly fibres, flax, and bits of dried leaves, and inside of bents and small dried twigs, the whole compact and neat. The eggs are of a light pink ground (almost flesh-coloured), with a few scattered spots of brownish pink, darker and more numerous at the blunt end. They measure 1125 by barely 08."

From Raipoor, Mr. F.R. Blewitt remarks:--"_Oriolus melanocephalus_ indiscriminately selects the mango, mowah, or any other kind of large tree for its nest, which is invariably firmly attached to the extreme terminal twigs of an upper horizontal branch, varying from 20 to 35 feet from the ground. Owing to the position it selects for the safety of its nest, it sometimes happens that the latter cannot be secured without the destruction of the eggs. It nidificates in June and July, and it would appear that both the birds, male and female, engage in the construction of the nest. Three is the normal number of the eggs, though on one occasion my s.h.i.+karee found four in a nest."

Buchanan Hamilton tells us that this species "frequents the groves and gardens of Bengal during the whole year, and builds a very rude nest of bamboo-leaves and the fibres that invest the top of the cocoanut or other palms. In March I found a nest with the young unfledged."

I confess that I believe this to be a mistake: neither season nor nest correspond with what I have myself seen about Calcutta. The nests, so far from being _rude_, are very neat.

Mr. J.R. Cripps writes from Furreedpore in Eastern Bengal:--"Very common, and a permanent resident. On the 20th April I found a nest containing two half-fledged young ones; in the garden was a clump of mango-trees, and attached to one of the outer twigs, but overhung by a lot of leaves, and about 12 feet from the ground, hung the nest, of the usual type."

Mr. J. Davidson met with this Oriole on the Kondabhari Ghat in Khandeish. On the 16th August he saw a brood, while on an adjoining tree there was a nest with two slightly-set eggs. He says:--"It was a very deep cup on the end of a thin branch, and though in cutting the branch to get at the nest, it got turned at right angles to its proper position, the eggs were uninjured. I do not think this nest belonged to the same pair as that which had young ones flying.

"These Orioles are very common here, and I found three nests: one was new and empty; from another the birds had just flown; while the remaining one contained one fresh egg. The bird would no doubt have laid more; but to get at the nest I had to cut the branch off, and it was only then I discovered that only one egg had been laid."

Major C.T. Bingham says:--"Plentiful at Allahabad across the Ganges, notwithstanding which I only found one nest, and that I have no note about, but I remember it was some time in June, and contained four half-fledged young ones; the materials of the nest were the same as those used by _O. kundoo_."

Writing of his experience in Tena.s.serim he adds:--"On the 5th March I found a nest of this bird in a small tree near the village of Hpamee.

It, however, contained three unfledged young, so I left it alone.

"On the 21st April I found a second nest suspended from the tip of a bamboo that overhung the path from Shwaobah village to Hpamee. This contained two awfully hard-set eggs, white, with a few dark purple blotches and spots at the larger ends. Nest made of gra.s.s and dry bamboo-leaves, lined with the dry midribs of leaves, and firmly bound on to the fork of the bamboo with a strip of some bark."

Mr. Oates writes from Pegu:--"My nests of this Oriole have been found in March, April, and May, but I have no doubt they also breed in June.

No details appear necessary."

Typically the eggs are somewhat elongated ovals, only slightly compressed towards one end, but pyriform as well as more pointed varieties may be met with. The sh.e.l.l is very fine and moderately glossy. The ground-colour varies from a creamy or pinky white to a decided but very pale salmon-colour. They are sparingly spotted and streaked with dark brown and pale inky purple. In most eggs the markings are more numerous towards the large end. Some have no markings elsewhere. The dark spots, especially towards the large end, are not unfrequently more or less enveloped in a reddish-pink nimbus.

Though much larger and much more glossy, some of the eggs, so far as shape, colour, and markings go, exactly resemble some of the eggs of _Dicrurus ater_. The eggs of _O. kundoo_ are typically excessively glossy china-white, with few well-defined black spots. The eggs of _O. melanocephalus_ are typically somewhat less glossy, with a pinky ground and more numerous and less defined brownish-purple spots and streaks. I have not yet seen one egg of either species that could be mistaken for one of the other, although of course abnormal varieties of each approach each other more closely than do the typical forms.

The dozen eggs that I possess of this species vary from 11 to 12 in length, and from 078 to 087 in breadth, and the average is 114 by 082. Although the average is somewhat larger than that of the preceding species, and although none of the eggs are quite _as_ small as many of those of _O. kundoo_, still none are nearly so large as the finest specimens of the latter's egg. Probably had I an equally large series of the eggs of the present species, we should find that as regards size there was no perceptible difference between the two.

522. Oriolus traillii (Vigors). _The Maroon Oriole_.

Oriolus traillii (_Vig._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 112; _Hume, cat._ no. 474.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took a nest of this Oriole on the 24th April, at an elevation of about 2500 feet. It was suspended, within ten feet of the ground, from an outer fork of a branch of a small leafy tree, which grew in a patch of low dense jangle. It is a neat cup, composed of fibrous bark and strips of the outer part of dry gra.s.s-stems, intermixed with skeletonized leaves and green moss, and lined with fine gra.s.s. Besides being firmly bound by the rim of the cup to the horizontal forking branches by fibrous barks, several strings extended from one branch to the other, both under and in front of the nest, while other strings from the body of the nest were fastened to an upright twig that rose immediately behind the fork, thus most securely retaining it in its position.

"Externally the nest measured 5 inches wide by 275 in height; internally 325 wide by 2 deep. It contained three fresh eggs.

"The female came quite close, making loud complaints against the robbing of her nest."

The nest is that of a typical Oriole, usually very firmly and substantially built, and of course always suspended at a fork between two twigs. A nest taken by Mr. Gammie in Sikhim on the 20th April, at an elevation of about 2500 feet, is a deep substantial cup, nearly 4 inches in diameter and 2 in depth internally. It is everywhere nearly an inch in thickness. The suspensory portion composed of vegetable fibres; towards the exterior dead leaves, bamboo-sheaths, green moss, and tendrils of creeping plants are profusely intermingled; interiorly, it is closely and regularly lined with very fine gra.s.s.

A nest sent me by Mr. Mandelli was found on the 3rd April at Namtchu, and contained three fresh eggs. It is precisely similar to the one above described, except that in the lining roots are mingled with the fine gra.s.s, and that instead of being suspended in a fork, it was partly wedged into and partly rested on a fork.

As a rule, however, as I know from other nests subsequently obtained, the nests are always suspended like those of the Common Oriole.

Two eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie closely resemble those of _O. melanocephalus_. In shape they are regular moderately elongated ovals; the sh.e.l.l is strong, firm, and moderately glossy. The ground is white with a creamy or brownish-pink tinge; the markings are blackish-brown spots and specks, almost confined to a zone about the large end, where they are all more or less enveloped in a brownish-red haze or _nimbus_. In length they measure 112 by 082, and 114 by 083.

Family EULABETIDAE