The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 46

I do not attach undue weight to this, for Dr. Jerdon did not care about eggs, and was rather careless about them; but still his statement has to be noted, and the whole matter requires careful investigation.

Mr. Doig found this species breeding on the Eastern Narra in Sind. He writes:--"I first obtained eggs of this bird in March 1879. The first nest was found by one of my men, who afterwards showed me a bird close to the place he got the eggs, which he said was either the bird to which the nest and eggs belonged or one of the same kind. This I shot and sent to Mr. Hume with one of the eggs to identify. Some time after I again came across a lot of these birds breeding, and this time lay in wait myself for the bird to come to the nest and eggs, and when it did I shot it. This I also sent to Mr. Hume to identify. Some time after I beard from Mr. Hume, who said that there must be some mistake, as the birds sent belonged to two different species, viz. _Sylvia affinis_ and _Hypolais rama_, and were both, he believed, only cold-weather visitants. This year I again 'went for' these birds and again sent specimens of birds and eggs to Mr. Hume, who informed me that the birds now sent were _H. rama_, and that the eggs must belong to this species soon after this Mr. Brooks saw the eggs with Mr. Hume and identified them as being those _H. rama_ and identical with eggs he saw at home collected by, I think, Mr. Seebohm of this species in Siberia. Only fancy a bird breeding on the Narra of all places, especially in May, June, and July, in preference to Siberia! Locally they are very numerous, as I collected upwards of 90 to 100 eggs in one field about eight acres in size. They build in stunted tamarisk bushes, or rather in bushes of this kind which originally were cut down to admit of cultivation being carried on, and which afterwards had again sprouted. These bushes are very dense, and in their centre is situated the nest, composed of sedge, with a lining of fine gra.s.s, mixed sometimes with a little soft gra.s.s-reed. The eggs are, as a rule, four in number, of a dull white ground-colour with brown spots, the large end having as a rule a ring round it of most delicate, fine, hair-like brown lines, something similar to the tracing to be seen on the eggs of _Drymoeca inornata_. The egg in size is also similar to those of that species."

The eggs of this species vary from broad to moderately elongated ovals, but they are almost always somewhat pointed towards the small end; the sh.e.l.l is fine but as a rule glossless; here and there, however, an egg exhibits a faint gloss. The ground-colour is whitish, never pure white, with an excessively faint greenish, greyish, creamy, or pinky tinge. The markings are very variable in amount and extent, but they are always black or nearly so and pale inky grey; perhaps typically the markings consist of a zone of black hair-lines twisted and entangled together, in which irregular shaped spots and small blotches of the same colour appear to have been caught, which zone is underlaid and more or less surrounded by clouds, streaks, and spots of pale inky grey. This zone is typically about the large end, but in one or two eggs is near the middle of the egg and in one or two is about the small end. Outside this zone a few small specks and spots, and rarely one or two tiny blotches, of both black and grey are thinly scattered; occasionally, however, the hair-lines so characteristic of this egg are almost entirely wanting, there is no apparent zone, and the markings, spots, and specks are thinly and irregularly distributed about the entire surface; here and there the whole of the dark markings on the egg are entirely confined to the zone, elsewhere only pale lilac specks are visible. Occasionally together with a well-defined zone numerous specks, spots, and a few hair-line scratches of black are intermingled with faint purplish-grey spots, and pretty thinly scattered everywhere.

The eggs vary from 053 to 068 in length and from 046 to 051 in breadth; but the average of a very large number is 061 by 049.

402. Sylvia affinis (Blyth). _The Indian Lesser White-throated Warbler_.

Sylvia curruca (_Gm.), apud Jerd. B.I._ ii, p. 209.

Sterparola curruca (_Lath.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 583.

Of the nidification of the Lesser Whitethroat within our limits, I only know that it was found in May, breeding abundantly in Cashmere in the lower hills, by Mr. Brooks. He did not notice it comparatively high up; for instance at Goolmerg, which, though not above 9000 feet high, is at the base of a snowy range, he did not see it at all.

It builds a loose, rather shallow, cup-shaped nest, composed chiefly of gra.s.s, coa.r.s.er on the exterior and finer interiorly, which it places in low bushes and thickets at no great elevation from the ground. The nest is more or less lined with fine gra.s.s and roots.

It lays four or sometimes five eggs.

Mr. Brooks writes:--"I found this Whitethroat tolerably numerous in Cashmere, where it appears generally distributed, occurring at from 5500 to 6500 feet elevation or thereabouts, It frequents places where there is abundance of brushwood or underwood, especially along the banks of rivers or near them.

"I found several nests, and they were all placed in small bushes, and from 4 to 6 feet above the ground. One was in a bush on a small island in the Kangan River, which runs into the Sind River; and this nest I well remember was just so high that I could not look into it as I stood. The nests precisely resembled in size and structure those of _C. garrula_ which I have seen at home, being formed of gra.s.ses, roots, and fine fibres, and I think scantily lined with a few black horsehairs; but I forget this now. They were slight, thinly formed nests, very neat but strong, and had bits of spider's web stuck about the outside here and there. This appears to be the decoration this bird and _C. garrula_ are partial to. They were not added, I think, for the purpose of rendering the nest inconspicuous, for there were just enough to give the nest a spotted appearance.

"The song of this species strongly resembles that of its congener, and is full, loud, and sweet. I found the nests by the song of the male, for he generally sings near the nest. The eggs don't differ from those of _C. garrula_ in my collection."

Major Wardlaw Ramsay says, writing of Afghanistan:--"This Warbler was very common and was breeding by the 27th May. All the nests found were shallow cups, composed entirely of dried gra.s.s, and situated in small bushes, frequently juniper, about 2 feet from the ground. The eggs vary much both in size and colour--some being long ovals, nearly pure white, spotted with pale brown towards the larger end, and others of a much rounder form and a pale greenish white, thickly spotted in a broad zone near the thicker end and smeared with very pale brown, or else spotted and smeared with olive-brown over the whole of the thicker end."

The eggs are somewhat broad ovals, typically a good deal pointed towards the lesser end. They vary, however, much both in size and shape: some are short and broad, decidedly pointed at the small end; others are more elongated, and some are almost regular ellipsoids. The eggs have little or no gloss; the ground-colour is white, with a more or less perceptible though very faint greenish tinge. Typically they are very Shrike-like in their markings, the majority of these being gathered together in a more or less dense zone near the large end.

The markings consist of small spots, blotches, and specks of pale yellowish brown, more or less intermingled with spots and specks of dull inky purple or grey; in many eggs there are very few markings, and these are mere spots except in the zone, while in others full-sized markings are scattered, though thinly, more or less over the whole surface of the egg. In some the zone is confluent and blurred; in others composed of small sharply defined specks and spots.

Here and there a pretty large yellowish-brown cloud may be met with partially or entirely bounded by a narrow hair-like black line. Tiny black specks now and then occur, and little zigzag lines that might have been borrowed from a Bunting's egg; but these are not met with in probably more than one out of ten eggs.

In length the eggs vary from 06 to 075, and in breadth from 048 to 055; but the average of sixteen eggs is 066 by 05.

406. Phylloscopus tytleri, Brooks. _Tytler's Willow-Warbler_.

Phylloscopus tytleri, _Brooks, Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 560 bis.

Tytler's Willow-Warbler, as yet a rare bird in collections, and which appears only to straggle down to the plains of Upper India during the cold season, was found by Captain c.o.c.k breeding at Sonamerg (9400 feet elevation) in the Sindh Valley, Cashmere, in June.

Mr. Brooks, who discriminated the bird, said of it and its nidification:--"In plumage resembling _P. virida.n.u.s_, but of a richer and deeper olive; it is entirely without the 'whitish wing-bar,' which is always present in _virida.n.u.s_, unless in very abraded plumage. The wing is shorter, so is the tail; but the great difference is in the bill, which is much longer, darker, and of a more pointed and slender form in _P. tytleri_. The song and notes are utterly different, so are the localities frequented. _P. virida.n.u.s_ is an inhabitant of brushwood ravines, at 9000 and 10,000 feet elevation; while _P.

tytleri_ is exclusively a pine-forest _Phylloscopus_. In the places frequented by _P. virida.n.u.s_, it must build on the ground, or very near it; but our new species builds, 40 feet up a pine-tree, a compact half-domed nest on the side of a branch.

"Captain c.o.c.k shot one of this species off the nest at Sonamerg with four eggs. The bird he sent to me, and gave me two of the eggs.

Regarding the nest he says: 'I took a nest, containing four eggs, about 40 feet up a pine, on the outer end of a bough, by means of ropes and sticks, and I shot the female bird. I do not know what the bird is. I thought it was _P. virida.n.u.s_, but I send it to you. The nest was very deep, solidly built, and cup-shaped. Eggs, plain white.'

In conversation with Captain c.o.c.k he afterwards told me that he had watched the bird building its nest. It was rather on the side of the branch, and its solid formation reminded him of a Goldfinch's nest.

It was composed of gra.s.s, fibres, moss, and lichens externally and thickly lined with hair and feathers. The eggs were pure unspotted white, rather smaller than those of _Reguloides occipitalis_. Two of them measured 58 by 48 and 57 by 45. They were taken on the 4th June."

Captain c.o.c.k himself writes to me:--"Of all the birds' nests that I know of, this is one of the most difficult to find. One day in the forest at Sonamerg, Cashmere, I noticed a Warbler fly into a high pine with a feather in its bill. I watched with the gla.s.ses and saw that it was constructing a nest, so allowing a reasonable time to elapse (nine days or so) I went and took the nest. It was placed on the outer end of a bough, about 40 feet up a high pine, and I had to take the nest by means of a spar lashed at right angles to the tree, the outer extremity of which was supported by a rope fastened to the top of the pine. The nest was a very solid, deep cup, of gra.s.s, fibres, and lichens externally, and lined with hair and feathers. It contained four white eggs, measuring 058 by 048.

"I shot the female, which I sent to Mr. Brooks for identification.

"I forgot to add that this nest, the only one I ever found, was taken early in June."

The egg of this species closely resembles that of some of the species of _Abrornis_--a moderately broad oval, slightly pointed at the small end, pure white, and almost glossless. The only specimen I have seen measures 058 by 045.

410. Phylloscopus fuscatus (Blyth). _The Dusky Willow-Warbler_.

Phylloscopus fuscatus (_Blyth), Jerd B.I._ ii, p. 191.

Horornis fulviventer, _Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 523.

Mr. Blyth long ago stated in 'The Ibis' that _Horornis fulviventris_ was identical with _P. fuscatus_[A].

[Footnote A: It is with considerable hesitation that I reproduce this note. _Horornis fulviventris_ with which Jerdon identified the bird, the nest of which he describes, is certainly _P. fuscatus_. The only doubt I have is whether Jerdon, who apparently had not seen a specimen of _H. fulviventris_, rightly identified his bird with it. With this explanation the note is republished as it appeared in the 'Rough Draft.'--ED.]

Subsequently I procured several specimens which were quite distinct from _P. fuscatus_, structurally as well as in plumage answering perfectly to Hodgson's description.

I wrote to Dr. Jerdon mentioning this fact, and he replied:--"I also am not satisfied of the ident.i.ty of this species (_H. fulviventris_) with _Phylloscopus fuscatus_. I have recently got at Darjeeling what I take to be _Horornis fulviventris_, and it is somewhat smaller in all its dimensions, but I had not a typical _P. fuscatus_ with which to compare it. Specimens measured 4 to 4-7/8 inches; expanse 6 inches; wing 2 to 2-1/16 inches. I procured the nest and eggs in July; the nest, cup-shaped, on a bank, composed of gra.s.s chiefly, with a few fibres; and the eggs, three in number, pinky white, with a few reddish spots."

It is certainly not _P. fuscatus_ (though possibly some specimens of _P. fuscatus_ in the British Museum may bear a label formerly attached to a bird of this species), nor any other _Horornis_ or _h.o.r.eites_ included in Dr. Jerdon's work, all of which I have. Mr. Blyth possibly went by Mr. Hodgson's specimens in the British Museum, but some confusion has, it is known, somehow crept in amongst these; and I have no doubt myself that _Horornis fulviventris_ is a good species, and that it was the nest and eggs of this species which Dr. Jerdon found[A].

[Footnote A: I omit the article on _Abrornis chloronotus_, Hodgs, which appeared in the 'Rough Draft' under number 574 bis. There is no manner of doubt that Hodgson got the wrong nest, a nest of a Sunbird, and figured it as that of this bird.--ED.]

415. Phylloscopus proregulus (Pall.). _Pallas's Willow-Warbler_.

Reguloides chloronotus (_Hodgs.), Jerd. B.I._ ii, p. 197.

Reguloides proregulus (_Pall.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 566.

Captain c.o.c.k has the honour of being the first to take, and, I believe, up to date the _only_ oologist who has ever taken, the nest and eggs of Pallas's Willow-Warbler. Mr. Brooks tried hard for the prize, but he searched on the ground and so missed the nest. He wrote to me from Cashmere, just about the time (June 1871) that Captain c.o.c.k found the nest he obtained:--"I have been utterly unable to do anything with _P. proregulus_. I shot a female, with an egg nearly ready to lay, when I first went to Goolmerg, but though I often heard the males singing, I never could find any indication of the nesting female. The feeble song, like that of _P. sibilatrix_, alluded to by Blyth as being that of _P. superciliosus_, is not that of this latter bird, but of _P. proregulus_".

Later, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, he noted that "Captain c.o.c.k took the nest and eggs at Sonamerg. It builds, like the Golden-crested Regulus, up a fir-tree, at from 6 to 40 feet elevation, on the outer ends of the branches. The nest is of moss, wool and fibres, and profusely lined with feathers. Eggs, four or five, pure white, profusely spotted with red and a few spots of purple grey.

Size, 053 by 043."

Later still he added in 'The Ibis:'--"Captain c.o.c.k writes from Sonamerg: 'The second day I found my first nest with eggs. It was the nest of _P. proregulus_. I shot the old bird. Three eggs. These nests are often placed on a bough high up in a pine-tree, and are domed or roofed, made of moss and lined with feathers. I took another one to day with five eggs, and shot the bird just as it was entering its nest. This was on a bough of a pine, but low down. I know of two more nests of _P. proregulus_, all on pine-trees, from which I hope to take eggs.'

"After describing the nest of _P. humii_, and saying that it was lined with the hair of the musk-deer, he adds: 'In this the nest differs from that of _P. proregulus_, which lines its nest with feathers and bits of thin birch-bark; and the nest of _P. proregulus_ is only partly domed.'

"I measured four eggs of _P. proregulus_ which Captain c.o.c.k kindly gave me, and the dimensions are as follows: 55 by 44, 53 by 43, 53 by 43, and 54 by 43. They are pure white, richly marked with dark brownish red, particularly at the larger end, forming there a fine zone on most of the eggs. Intermingled with these spots, and especially on the zone, are some spots and blotches of deep purple-grey. The egg is very handsome, and reminds one strongly of those of _Parus cristatus_ on a smaller scale. The dates when the eggs were taken are 30th May and 2nd June, and the place Sonamerg, which is four marches up the valley of the Sindh River."

Captain c.o.c.k himself tells me that he "took several nests of this bird at Sonamerg in Cashmere in pine-forests. It breeds in May and June, making a partially domed nest, which is sometimes placed low down on the bough of a pine-tree, sometimes on a small sapling pine where the junction of the bough with the stem takes place, and at other times high up on the outer end of a bough. It lays five eggs, like those of _P. humii_ only smaller. The nests I found were all lined with feathers and thin birch-bark strips. I never found a hair-lining in any of this bird's nests. The outer portions of the nest consisted of moss and lichen, arranged so as to harmonize with the bough on which it was placed. The nests are compact little structures."

Mr. Brooks, writing of the valley of the Bhagirati river, says:--"Common in the alpine parts of the valley. It breeds about Derali, Bairamghati, and Gangaotri, in the large moss-grown deodars."

The eggs of this species closely resemble those of _P. humii_, but are smaller, and, to judge from a few specimens taken by Captain c.o.c.k that I have seen, they are somewhat shorter and broader.

Texture smooth, without any perceptible gloss. Ground-colour pure white, spotted freely and princ.i.p.ally towards the larger end with red: brick-dust red would perhaps scarcely be a correct term. The colour would be obtained by mixing a little brown and a good deal of purple with vermilion, or by mixing Indian red with a little Venetian red.