The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 32

The nest was placed about 5 feet from the ground in a small wild ber-tree in a water-course. On the 7th May I found another nest placed in a small thick cheer-tree in the same valley, which contained four eggs."

From Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall tells us that this species "breeds in the valleys, at about 4000 or 5000 feet up, in the end of June. Lays four eggs with a white ground, very thickly blotched with claret-red; nest roughly made of gra.s.s and roots, in low bushes."

About Simla and the valleys of the Sutlej and Beas I have found it common, and my experience of its nidification in these localities has been above recorded.

From Mussoorie, Captain Hutton wrote that it is "common in the Dhoon throughout the year, and in the hills during the summer. It breeds in April and May. The nest is neat and cup-shaped, placed in the forks of bushes or pollard trees, and is composed externally of the dried stalks of forget-me-not, lined with fine gra.s.s-stalks. Eggs three or four, rosy or faint purplish white, thickly sprinkled with specks and spots of darker rufescent purple or claret colour. Sometimes the outside of the nest is composed of fine dried stalks of woody plants, whose roughness causes them to adhere together."

Mr. W.E. Brooks remarks:--"I found this bird common at Almorah, and procured several nests. They were placed in a bush or small tree, and were slightly composed of fine gra.s.s, roots, and fibres: eggs three; ground-colour purplish white, speckled all over, most densely at the larger end, with spots and blotches of purple-brown and purplish grey: laying in k.u.maon from the beginning of May to June."

Dr. Scully states that in Nepal this Bulbul "breeds in May and June, princ.i.p.ally at elevations of from 5000 to 6000 feet. Its nests were secured on the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 14th, and 28th June; the usual number of eggs laid seems to be three."

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"This species breeds both at Naini Tal (7000 feet) and at Bheem Tal (4000 feet). In k.u.maon the eggs seem to be laid in the first half of June; the earliest date I have taken them was a single fresh egg on the 23rd May, and the latest, four eggs on the 25th Jane: the nest is seldom more than six feet from the ground, and is placed either in a thick bush or in the outer twigs of a low bough of a tree."

The eggs are of the regular Bulbul type, as exemplified in those of _Molpastes haemorrhous_, and vary much in colour, size, and shape.

Typically they are rather a long oval, somewhat pointed at one end, have a pinkish or reddish-white ground with little or no gloss, and are thickly speckled, freckled, streaked, or blotched, as the case may be, with blood-, brownish-, or purplish-red, &c., and here and there, chiefly towards the large end, exhibit, besides these primary markings, tiny underlying spots and clouds of pale inky purple. Some eggs have a pretty well-marked zone or irregular cap at the large end, but this is not very common. In size they average somewhat larger than those of _Molpastes leucotis_ and _Otocompsa emeria_, both of which they closely resemble; but they are smaller and as a body less richly coloured than those of _O. fuscicaudata_. They vary in length from 082 to 095, and from 058 to 07 in breadth; but the average of fifty-seven specimens measured was 088 by 065.

285. Molpastes leucotis (Gould). _The White-eared Bulbul_.

Otocompsa leucotis (_Gould), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p. 91; _Hume. Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 459.

The White-eared Bulbul is, so far as my experience goes, entirely a Western Indian form. In the cold weather it may be met with at Agra, Cawnpoor, and even Jhansi, Saugor, and Hoshungabad; but during the summer months I only know of its occurring in Cutch, Katywar, Sindh, Rajpootana, and the Punjab. In all these localities it breeds, laying for the most part in July and August in the Punjab, but somewhat earlier in Sindh. I have, even in Rajpootana, seen eggs towards the end of May, but this is the exception.

The nests are usually in dense and th.o.r.n.y bushes--acacias, catechu, and jhand (_Prosopis spicigera_)--and are placed at heights of from 4 to 6 feet from the ground. The Customs hedge is a great place for their nests, but I have noticed that they are partial to bushes in the immediate neighbourhood of water; and at Hansie, whence he sent me many nests and eggs, Mr. W. Blewitt always found them either in the fort ditch or along the banks of the ca.n.a.l.

The nests, which very much resemble those of _Molpastes haemorrhous_, are usually composed of very fine dry twigs of some herbaceous plant, intermingled with vegetable fibre resembling tow, and scantily lined with very fine gra.s.s-roots. They are rather slender structures, shallow cups measuring internally from 25 to 3 inches in diameter, and a little more than 1 inch in depth. Three was the largest number of eggs I ever found in any nest, and several sets were fully incubated.

Mr. W. Theobald makes the following note on the nidification of this bird in the neighbourhood of Pind Dadan Khan and Katas in the Salt Range:--"Lay in May, June, and July: eggs four; shape ovato pyriform; size 091 inch by 064 inch: colour white, much dotted with claret-red; nest a neat cup of vegetable fibres in bushes,"

Mr. S. Doig informs us that this bird breeds on the Eastern Narra in Sind from May to August.

Colonel Butler writes:--"I found a nest of the White-eared Bulbul at Deesa on the 5th August containing three fresh eggs. It was placed in the fork of a low Beer tree about 4 feet from the ground, and in structure closely resembled the nest of _M. haemorrhous_.

"On the 17th August I found another nest built by the same pair of birds in an exactly similar situation, about 60 yards from the first nest, containing three more fresh eggs."

The eggs, which I need not here describe in detail, are precisely similar to, but as a body slightly smaller than, those of _Molpastes leucogenys_. The only point of difference that I seem to notice, and this might disappear with a larger series before me, is that there is a rather greater tendency in the eggs of this species to exhibit a zone or cap. In length they vary from 075 to 09, and in breadth from 052 to 068; but the average of twenty-three eggs measured was 083 barely, by 064.

288. Otocompsa emeria(Linn.). _The Bengal Red-whiskered Bulbul_.

Otocompsa jocosa (_L.), Jerd. B. Ind_ ii, p, 92 (part).

Otocompsa emeria (_Shaw), Hume, Rough Draft N.& E._ no. 460.

The Bengal Red-whiskered Bulbul breeds from March to the end of May.

Its nest is placed, according to my experience in Lower Bengal, in any thick bush, clump of gra.s.s, or knot of creepers; sometimes in the immediate proximity of native villages or in the gardens of Europeans, and sometimes quite away in the jungle. It is a typical Bulbul nest, a broad shallow saucer, compactly put together with twigs of herbaceous plants, amongst which, especially towards the base, a few dry leaves are incorporated, and lined with roots or fine gra.s.s. Exteriorly a little cobweb is wound on to keep twigs and leaves firm and in their places. All the nests that I have seen were tolerably near the ground, at heights ranging from 3 to 5 feet.

Three is the normal number of the eggs, but only the other day we obtained one containing four.

Mr. R.M. Adam says:--"This bird is very common in Oudh. It affects gardens and low scrub-jungle, flying about with a jerky flight from bush to bush. They are very fond of the fruit of the mangot-tree (_F.

indica_), and may be seen in great numbers about these trees when the fruit is ripe. Their note is something like that of the common Bulbul, but livelier and louder. I have seen a number of this year's young birds well grown, but as yet without the red cheek-tuft.

"They build in clamps of moong-gra.s.s about 2 to 3 feet from the ground. One I found in the tendrils of a creeper about 20 feet from the ground. The nest is well fixed in the gra.s.s and fastened to it by the intertwining of some of the fibres of which it is composed. It is cup-shaped, and measures 4 inches in diameter, about 075 in thickness, with an egg-cavity 275 in diameter and 15 deep.

"The nest is formed of roots, twigs, and gra.s.s loosely worked together, and over the exterior, with the view of binding the ma.s.s together, dried or skeleton leaves, pieces of cloth, broad pieces of gra.s.s, and plaintain-bark are fastened carelessly on by means of cobwebs and the silk from coc.o.o.ns. The egg-cavity is lined with fine roots.

"I never have found more than three eggs; on several occasions only two."

I do not think it possible to separate the Andaman bird. Of its nidification in those islands Mr. Davison says:--"I found a nest of this species in April near Port Blair, in a low mangrove-bush growing quite at the edge of the water; it (the nest) was cup-shaped and composed of roots, dried leaves, and small pieces of bark, lined with fine roots and cocoanut fibres; it contained three eggs, with a pinkish-white ground thickly mottled and blotched with purplish red, the spots coalescing at the thicker end to form a zone."

Mr. J.H. Cripps writes from Eastern Bengal:--"Very common and a permanent resident; it freely enters gardens and orchards. In my garden there was a kamiinee-tree (_Murraya exotica_), in which I found a nest of this species on the 27th March in course of construction; and on looking at it on the 12th April found two young that had just been hatched. Cane-brakes are favourite places for them to nest in.

On the 6th May I found a nest in one of these about 4 feet off the ground, and containing three partly incubated eggs. This species does not, as a rule, build in such exposed situations as _M. bengalensis_; it eats the fruit of jungly trees, _Ficis_, &c., as well as insects."

On the breeding of this Bulbul in Pegu Mr. Gates remarks:--"This bird breeds as early as February, on the 27th of which month I procured a nest with two eggs nearly hatched. It stops nesting, I think, at the beginning of the rains."

Mr. W. Davison informs us that he "took a nest of this bird at Bankasoon, in Southern Tena.s.serim, on the 15th March. It was placed in a small bush growing in an old garden about 4 feet above the ground.

The nest was of the usual type, a compactly-woven cup, composed externally of dry twigs, leaves, &c., the egg-cavity lined with fibres. It contained three nearly fresh eggs."

The eggs in size, colour, and shape closely resemble those of _Molpastes leucotis_. All that I have said in regard to these latter is applicable to those of the present species, and, so far as varieties of coloration go, the description of the eggs of _Molpastes leucogenys_ is equally applicable to those of the present species. If any distinction can be drawn, it is that, as a body, bold blotches of rich red and pale purple are more commonly exhibited in the eggs of this species than in those of either of the preceding ones.

In length the eggs vary from 08 to 09, and in breadth from 085 to 07, but the average of twenty-seven eggs was 083 nearly, by 063 barely.

289. Otocompsa fuscicaudata, Gould. _The Southern Red-whiskered Bulbul_.

Otocompsa fuscicaudata, _Gould, Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 400 bis.

The Southern Red-whiskered Bulbul is found throughout the more hilly and more or less elevated tracts of the peninsula, from Cape Comorin northwards as far as Mount Aboo on the west, and the Eastern Ghats, above Nellore, on the east. How far northwards it extends in the centre of the peninsula I am not certain, but I have seen a specimen from the Satpooras.

They breed any time from the beginning of February to the end of May.

Their nests are usually placed at no great height from the ground (say at from 2 to 6 feet) in some thick bush.

The nests of this species that I procured at Mount Aboo, and which have been sent me by Mr. Carter both from c.o.o.noor and Salem, and by other friends from other parts of the Nilghiris, where the bird is excessively common, very much resemble those of _O. emeria_, but they are somewhat neater and more substantial in structure. They differ a good deal in size and shape, as the nests of Bulbuls are wont to do.

Some are rather broad and shallow, with egg-cavities measuring 3 inches across, and perhaps 1 inch in depth; while others are deeper and more cup-shaped, the cavity measuring only 2 inches across and fully 1 inch in depth. They are composed in some cases almost wholly of gra.s.s-roots, in others of very fine twigs of the furash (_Tamarix furas_) in others again of rather fine gra.s.s, and all have a quant.i.ty of dead leaves or dry ferns worked into the bottom, and all are lined with either very fine gra.s.s or very fine gra.s.s-roots. The external diameter averages about 4 inches, but some stand fully 3 inches high, while others are not above 2 inches in height. As might be expected, the White-cheeked and White-eared and the two Red-whiskered Bulbuls'

types of architecture differ considerably; _inter se_, the nests of _M. leucotis_ and _M. leucogenys_ differ just sufficiently to render it generally possible to separate them, and the same may be said of the nests of _O. emeria_ and _O. fuscicaudata_. But there is a very wide difference between the nests of the two former and the two latter species, so that it would be scarcely possible to mistake a nest belonging to the one group for that of the other. The incorporation of a quant.i.ty of dead leaves in the body of the nests, reminding one much, of those of the English Nightingale, is characteristic of the Red-whiskered Bulbul, and is scarcely to be met with in those of the White-cheeked or White-eared ones.

Mr. H.R.P. Carter says:--"At c.o.o.noor on the Nilghiris I have found the nests from the 13th March to the 22nd April, but I believe they commence laying in February. They are generally placed in coffee-bushes and low shrubs, as a rule in a fork, but I have frequently found them suspended between the twigs of a bush which had no fork. I have also found the nest of this bird in the thatch of the eaves of a deserted bungalow, and in tufts of gra.s.s on the edge of a cutting overhanging the public road.

"The nest is cup-shaped, rather loosely constructed outside, but closely and neatly finished inside. The outside is nearly always fern-leaves at the bottom, coa.r.s.e gra.s.s and fibres above, and lined inside either with fine fibres or fine gra.s.s.

"I have never found more than two eggs, and I have taken great numbers of nests; but I am told that three in a nest is not uncommon."

Writing from Kotagherry, Miss c.o.c.kburn says:--"Our Red-whiskered Bulbul builds a cup-shaped nest in any thick bush. The foundation is generally laid with pieces of dry leaves and fern, after which small sticks are added, and the whole neatly finished with a lining of fine gra.s.s. They lay two (sometimes three) very prettily spotted eggs of different shades of red and white, which are found in February, March, and April."

Mr. Wait remarks:--"This bird breeds at c.o.o.noor from February to June.

It builds usually in isolated bushes and shrubs, in gardens and open jungle. The nest is cup-shaped, loosely but strongly built of gra.s.s-bents, rooty fibres, and thin stalks, and is lined with finer gra.s.s-stems and roots. I think the internal diameter averages about 2 inches, and about an inch in depth; but they vary a good deal in size.

They lay two or three eggs, rarely four; and the eggs vary a good deal in shape and size, being sometimes very round and sometimes comparatively long ovals. The birds swarm on oar coffee estates, and breed freely in the coffee-bushes."

Dr. Jerdon says:--"I have frequently had its nest and eggs brought me on the Nilghiris. The nest was very neatly made, deep, cup-shaped, of moss, lichens, and small roots, lined with hair and down. The eggs are barely distinguishable from those of the next bird (_M. bengalensis_), being reddish white with spots of purplish or lake-red all over, larger at the thick end."