The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 26

"The pairing-season commences about the end of March, when the males may be heard uttering a feeble kind of rambling song, which in reality is merely modified repet.i.tions of a single note."

Mr. A. Anderson remarked that "the White-eye breeds throughout the North-Western Provinces and Oudh during the months of June, July, and August. The nest is a beautiful little model of the Oriole's; and according to my experience it is invariably _suspended_, and _not fixed in the fork of small branches_ as stated by Jerdon. I have on several occasions watched a pair in the act of building their nest.

They set to work with cobwebs, and having first tied together two or three leafy twigs to which they intend to attach their nest, they then use fine fibre of the _sun_ (_Crotalaria juncea_), with which material they complete the outer fabric of their very beautiful and compact nest. As the work progresses more cobwebs and fibre of a silky kind are applied externally, and at times the nest, when tossed about by the wind (sometimes at a considerable elevation), would be mistaken by a casual observer for an accidental collection of cobwebs. The inside of the nest is well felted with the down of the madar plant, and then it is finally lined with fine hair and gra.s.s-stems of the softest kind. Sometimes the nest is suspended from only two twigs, exactly after the fas.h.i.+on of the Mango-birds (_Oriolus kundoo_); and in this case it is attached by means of silk-like fibres and fine fibre of _sun_ for about 1 inch on each side; at others it is suspended from several twigs; and occasionally I have seen the leaves fixed on to the sides of the nest, thus making it extremely difficult of detection.

"In shape the nest is a perfect hollow hemisphere; one now before me measures (inside) 15 in diameter. The wall is about 03 in thickness.

"Almost all my nests have been built on the neem tree, the long slender _petioles_ of which are admirably adapted for its suspension.

"As a rule the nest is built at a considerable height, and owing to its situation there is not a more difficult nest to take. Great numbers get washed down in a half-finished state in a heavy fall of rain.

"The eggs are, exactly as Jerdon describes them, of a pale blue, 'almost like skimmed milk,' and the usual number is three, though four are frequently laid."

"On the 7th September," writes Mr. E.M. Adam, "in my garden in Lucknow, I discovered a nest of this bird in course of construction, but when it was nearly finished the birds left it. The nest was a beautiful little cup made of fine gra.s.s and cobwebs. It was situated in a slender fork of a mango-tree about 15 feet from the ground."

Major C.T. Bingham says:--"Common both at Allahabad and at Delhi; breeds in both places in May, June, and July. All nests I have seen have been finely made little cups of fibres, bits of thread and cobwebs, lined interiorly with horsehair, generally suspended between two slender twigs at no great height from the ground."

Mr. E. Aitken writes:--"I have only actually taken one nest of the White-eye. That was in Poona (2000 feet above the sea) on the 21st July. The bird, however, builds abundantly in Poona about gardens, trees on the roadside, &c.

"This particular nest was fixed to a thin branch of a tamarind-tree on the side of a lane among gardens. It was within reach of my hand, and was attached both to the thin branch itself and to two twigs. It was well sheltered among leaves.

"The nest was a cup rather narrower at the mouth than in the middle.

Its external diameter at the top was 2 inches; internal diameter 1 inch; depth 1 inch internally. It was composed of a variety of fibres closely interwoven with some kind of vegetable silk, and was lined princ.i.p.ally with horsehair and very fine fibres. It contained three eggs."

Mr. Davison tells us that "the White-eye breeds on the Nilghiris in February, March, April, and the earlier part of May.

"The nest is a small neat cup-shaped structure suspended between a fork in some small low bush, generally only 2 or 3 feet from the ground, but sometimes high up, about 20 or 30 feet from the ground. It is composed externally of moss and small roots and the down from the thistle; the egg-cavity is invariably sparingly lined with hair. The eggs, two in number, are of a pale blue, like skimmed milk."

From Kotagherry Miss c.o.c.kburn remarks:--"Their nests are, I think, more elegantly finished than those of any of the small birds I have seen up here. They generally select a thick bush, where, when they have chosen a horizontal forked branch, they construct a neat round nest which is left quite open at the top. The materials they commence with are green moss, lichen, and fine gra.s.s intertwined. I have even found occasionally a coa.r.s.e thread, which they had picked up near some Badagar's village and used in order to fasten the little building to the branches. The inside is carefully lined with the down of seed-pods. White-eyes' nests are very numerous here in the months of January, February, and March. They are extremely partial to the wild gooseberry bush as a site to build on. One year I found ten out of eleven nests on these bushes, the fruit of which is largely used by the aborigines of the hills. A pair once built on a thick orange-tree in our garden. We often stood quite close to one of them while sitting on the eggs, and it never showed the slightest degree of fear. They lay two eggs of a light blue colour."

Mr. Wait, writing from Conoor, says that "_Z. palpebrosa_ breeds in April and May, building in bushes and shrubs, and making a deep round cup-shaped nest very neatly woven in the style of the Chaffinch, composed of moss, gra.s.s, and silk cotton, and spa.r.s.ely lined with very fine gra.s.s and hair. The eggs are two in number, of a roundish oval shape, and a pale greenish-blue colour."

Finally Colonel Legge informs us that this species breeds in Ceylon in June, July, and August.

The eggs are somewhat lengthened ovals (occasionally rather broader), and a good deal pointed towards the small end. The sh.e.l.l is very fine but almost glossless; here and there a somewhat more glossy egg is met with. They are normally of a uniform very pale blue or greenish blue, without any markings whatsoever, but once in a way an egg is seen characterized by a cap or zone of a somewhat purer and deeper blue.

Abnormally large and small specimens are common. They vary in length from 053 to 07, and in breadth from 042 to 058; but the average of thirty-eight eggs is 062 by 047, and the great majority of the eggs are really about this size.

229. Zosterops ceylonensis, Holdsworth. _The Ceylon White-eye_.

Zosterops ceylonensis, _Holdsw., Hume, cat._ no. 631 bis.

Colonel Legge, referring to the nidification of the Ceylon White-eye, says:--"This species breeds from March until May, judging from the young birds which are seen abroad about the latter month. Mr.

Bligh found the nest in March on Catton Estate. It was built in a coffee-bush a few feet from the ground, and was a rather frail structure, suspended from the arms of a small fork formed by one bare twig crossing another. In shape it was a shallow cup, well made of small roots and bents, lined with hair-like tendrils of moss, and was adorned about the exterior with a few cobwebs and a little moss. The eggs were three in number, pointed ovals, and of a pale bluish-green ground-colour. They measured, on the average, 64 by 45 inch."

231. Ixulus occipitalis (Bl.) _The Chestnut-headed Ixulus_.

Ixulus occipitalis (_Bl.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 250; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 624.

A nest of this species, taken by Mr. Gammie out of a small tree below Rungbee, at an elevation of about 3000 feet, was a small, somewhat shallow cup, composed almost entirely of very fine moss-roots, but with a little moss incorporated in the outer surface. Externally the nest was about 3 inches in diameter and 2 inches in height. The egg-cavity was about 2 inches by barely 1 inch. This nest was found on the 17th June and contained three hard-set eggs, _which_ were thrown away!

232. Ixulus flavicollis (Hodgs.). _The Yellow-naped Ixulus_.

Ixulus flavicollis (_Hodgs._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p. 259; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 623.

I have never taken a nest of the Yellow-naped Ixulus.

Mr. Gammie says:--"I have only as yet found a single nest of this species, and this was one of the most artfully concealed that I have ever seen. I found it in forest in the Chinchona reserves, at an elevation of about 5000 feet, on the 14th May. It was a rather deep cup, composed of moss and fine root-fibres and thickly lined with the latter, and was suspended at a height of about six feet amongst the natural moss, hanging from a horizontal branch of a small tree, in which it was entirely enveloped. A more beautiful or more completely invisible nest it is impossible to conceive. It contained three fresh eggs. The cup itself was exteriorly 37 inches in diameter and 19 in depth, while the cavity was 25 in diameter and 15 in depth."

The Yellow-naped Ixulus breeds, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, in the central region of Nepal and the neighbourhood of Darjeeling, laying during the months of May and June. It builds on the ground in tufts of gra.s.s, constructing its nest of moss and moss-roots, sometimes open and cup-like and sometimes globular, and lining it with sheep's wool. Mr. Hodgson figures one nest suspended from a branch, and although neither the English nor the vernacular notes confirm this, it is supported to a certain extent by Mr. Gammie's experience.

At the same time, though the situation and surroundings of both seem to have been similar, Mr. Hodgson figures his nest, not cup-shaped, but egg-shaped, and with the longer diameter horizontal. Seven nests are recorded as having been taken, and all on the ground. One, cup-shaped, taken on the 7th June, 1846, which is also figured, in amongst gra.s.s and leaves on the ground, measured externally 35 inches in diameter, 25 in height, and internally 2 inches both in diameter and depth.

The full complement of eggs is said to be four. Two types of eggs are figured, both rather broad ovals, measuring about 075 by 06. The one has a buffy-white ground and is thinly speckled and streaked, except quite at the broad end, where the markings are nearly confluent, with pale dingy yellowish brown; the other has a pale earthy-brown ground, and is spotted similarly to the one just described, but with red and purple. This latter egg appears on the same plate with the suspended nest, and is, I think, doubtful.

Several nests of this species, which I owe to Captain Ma.s.son of Darjeeling, are very beautiful structures, moderately shallow and rather ma.s.sive cups, externally composed of moss, and lined thickly with fine black moss-roots. The cavity of the nests may have been about 1 inch in diameter by less than 1 inch in depth, but the sides of the nests are from one inch to 2 inches in thickness, constructed of firmly compacted moss.

Other nests of this species that have since been sent me show that the bird very commonly suspends its nest to one or two twigs, not unfrequently making it a complete cylinder or egg in shape, with the entrance at one side, but always using moss, in some cases fine, in some coa.r.s.e, according to the nature of the moss growing where the nest is placed, as the sole material, and lining the cavity thickly with fine black moss and fern-roots.

Dr. Jerdon tells us that at Darjeeling he has repeatedly had the nest brought to him. "It is large, made of leaves of bamboos carelessly and loosely put together, and generally placed in a clump of bamboos. The eggs are three to five in number, of a somewhat fleshy-white, with a few rusty spots."

I cannot but think that in this case wrong nests had been brought to Dr. Jerdon. The eggs that I possess are all of one type--rather elongated ovals with scarcely any gloss, and strongly recalling in shape, size, and appearance densely marked varieties of the eggs of _Hirundo rustica_, but with the markings rather browner and slightly more smudgy.

The eggs are typically rather elongated ovals, often slightly compressed towards the small end, sometimes rather broader and slightly pyriform. The sh.e.l.l is extremely fine and compact, but has scarcely any gloss; the ground-colour is sometimes pure white, sometimes has a faint brownish-reddish or creamy tinge. The markings are invariably most dense about the large end, where they form a zone or cap, regular, well defined and confluent in some specimens, irregular, ill-defined and blotchy in others. As a rule these markings, which consist of specks, spots, and tiny blotches, are comparatively thinly scattered over the rest of the egg, but occasionally they are pretty thickly scattered everywhere, though nowhere anything like so densely as at the large end. The colour of the markings is rather variable. It is a brown of varying shades, varying not only in different eggs, but there being often two shades on the same egg. Normally it is I think an umber-brown, yellower in some spots, but varying slightly in tinge, leaning to burnt umber, sienna, and raw sienna.

Other eggs subsequently obtained by Mr. Gammie are of much the same character as those already described, but one is a good deal shorter and broader, and the markings are more decided red than are some of the yellowish-brown spots observable in the eggs first obtained.

In length the eggs seem to vary from 076 to 08, and in breadth from 054 to 058.

Subfamily LIOTRICHINAE.

235. Liothrix lutea (Scop.). _The Red-billed Liothrix_.

Leiothrix luteus (_Scop._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 250.

Leiothrix callipyga (_Hodgs._), _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 614.

The Red-billed Liothrix breeds from April to August; at elevations of from 3000 to 6000 feet, throughout the Himalayas south, as a rule, of the first snowy range and eastward of the Sutlej; west of the Sutlej I have not heard of its occurrence. It also doubtless breeds throughout the hill-ranges running down from a.s.sam to Burmah.

Mostly the birds lay in May, affecting well-watered and jungle-clad valleys and ravines. They place their nests in thick bushes, at heights of from 2 to 8 feet from the ground, and either wedge them into some fork, tack them into three or four upright shoots between which they hang, or else suspend them like an Oriole's or White-eye's nest.

The nest varies from a rather shallow to a very deep cup, and is composed of dry leaves, moss, and lichen in varying proportions, bamboo-leaves being great favourites, bound together with slender creepers, gra.s.s-roots, fibres, &c., and lined with black horse- or buffalo-hair, or hair-like moss-roots. The nests differ much in appearance: I have seen one composed almost entirely of moss, and another of nothing but dry bamboo-sheaths, with a sc.r.a.p or two of moss. They are always pretty substantial, but sometimes they are very ma.s.sive for the size of the bird.

Three is certainly the usual complement of eggs.