203. Sibia picaoides, Hodgs.
The Long-tailed Sibia
Sibia picaoides, (Hodgs.) Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 55; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 430.
Mr. Gammie obtained a nest of the Long-tailed Sibia from the top of a tall
tree, situated at an elevation of about 4000 feet, in the neighborhood of
Rungbee, near Darjeeling. This was on the 17th June, and the nest contained
five fresh eggs. The nest is as perplexing as are the eggs; for the nest is
that of a Bulbul, the eggs those of a Shrike or Minivet. The nest is a deep
compact cup, about 4½ inches in diameter and 2¾ inches in depth. The
egg-cavity is 3 inches across and fully 1¾ inch in depth. Interiorly the nest
is composed of excessively fine grass-stems very firmly interwoven;
externally of the stems of some herbaceous plant, a Chenopod, to which the
dry blossoms are still attached, intermingled with coarse grass, a single
dead leaf, and one or two broad grass-blades more or less broken up into fibres.
The eggs, for the authenticity of which Mr. Gammie positively vouches, are
very unlike what might have been expected. They are absolutely Shrike's
eggs--broad ovals, pointed towards one end, with a slight gloss, the ground a
slightly greyish white, with a good many small spots and specks of pale
yellowish brown and dingy purple, chiefly confined to a large irregular zone
towards the larger end. They vary in length from 0·86 to 0·93, and in breadth from 0·7 to 0·73.
204. Lioptila capistrata (Vigors). The Black-headed Sibia
Sibia capistrata (Vigors), Jerdon. B. Ind. ii, p. 54; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 429.
The Black-headed Sibia lays throughout the Himalayas from Afghanistan to Bhutan, at elevations of from 5000 to 7000 feet. It lays during May and June,
and perhaps part of July, for I find that on the 11th of July I found a nest
of this species a little below the lake at Nainital, on the Jewli Road, containing two young chicks apparently not a day old.
They build on the outskirts of forests, constructing their nests towards the
ends of branches, at heights of from 10 to 50 feet from the ground. The nest
is a neat cup, some 4 or 5 inches in diameter and perhaps 3 inches in height,
composed chiefly of moss and lined with black moss-roots and fibres. In some
of the nests that I have preserved a good deal of grass-leaves and scraps of
lichen are incorporated in the moss. The cavity is deep, from 2½ to 3 inches in diameter and not much less than 2 inches in depth.
They lay two or three eggs; not more, so far as I yet know.
From Murree, Colonel C. H. T. Marshall tells us that "the egg of this bird
was, we believe, previously unknown, and it was a mere chance that we found
the whereabouts of their nests, as they breed high up in the spruce firs at
the outer end of a bough. The nest is neatly made of moss, lined with stalks
of the maiden-hair fern. The eggs are pale blue, spotted and blotched with
pale and reddish brown. They are ·95 in length and ·7 in breadth. This species breeds in June, about 7000 feet up."
Nearly twenty years prior to this, however, Captain Hutton had remarked: "At
Mussoorie this bird remains at an elevation of 7000 feet throughout the year,
but I never saw it under 6500 feet. Its loud ringing note of titteree-titteree tweëyo, quickly repeated, may constantly be heard on
wooded banks during summer. It breeds in May, making a neat nest of coarse
dry grasses as a foundation, covered laterally with green moss and wool and
lined with fine roots. The number of eggs I did not ascertain, as the nest
was destroyed when only one egg had been deposited, but the colour is pale
bluish white, freckled with rufous. The nest was placed on a branch of a plum-tree in the Botanical Garden, Mussoorie."
Captain Cock says that he "found this species breeding at Murree, at 6000 feet elevation.
"I took my first nest on the 5th June. "It builds near the tops of the
highest pines, and unless seen building its nest with the glasses, it is impossible to find the nest with the unaided eye.
"The nest is placed on the outer extremity of an upper bough in a pine-tree;
is constructed of moss lined with stalks of the maiden-hair fern. Three eggs
is the largest number I ever found. The eggs are light greenish white, with rusty spots and blotches principally at the larger end."
From Nainital Colonel G. F. L. Marshall writes: "This species builds in trees
and bushes. The only nest I examined personally was a very compact and thick
cup-shaped structure of moss, grass, and roots, lined with grass, and placed
amongst the outer twigs of a blackberry bush overhanging a cliff. It was
ready for the eggs on the 23rd May. It was found at Nainital on Agar Pata, about 7000 feet above the sea."
From Sikkim Mr. Gammie writes: "I have only myself taken two nests of this
common species. I found both of them the same day (the 21st May), in the
Chinchona reserves, at an elevation of about 5000 feet. Both nests were in
the forest, built on the outer branches of trees, at heights the one of 15,
the other of 40 feet from the ground. The nests were cup-shaped, and very
neatly made of moss, leaves and fibres, and lined with black fibres. One
measured externally 4·6 in diameter by 2·75 in height, and internally 2·4 in
diameter and 1·7 in depth. One nest contained two fresh, the other two
hard-set eggs; so perhaps two is the normal number, though the natives say
that they lay three. As might be expected from the bird's habit of feeding on
the insects on moss-covered trees in moist forests, the nests were in forest by the sides of streams."
The eggs are rather broad, slightly pyriform ovals, often a good deal pulled
out as it were at the small end. The shell is fine, but almost entirely
devoid of gloss. The ground-colour is a pale greenish white or very pale
bluish green. The markings are various and complicated: first there are
usually a few large, irregular, moderately dark brownish-red spots and
splashes; then there are a very few, very dark, reddish-brown hair-lines,
such as one finds on Buntings' eggs; then there is a good deal of clouding
and smudging here and there of pale, dingy purplish or brownish red (all
these markings are most numerous towards the large end); and then besides
these, and almost entirely confined to the large end, are a few pale purple
specks and spots. Sometimes the markings are almost wholly confined to the
thicker end of the egg. Of course the eggs vary somewhat, and in some
specimens the characteristic Bunting-like hair-lines are almost wholly
wanting. The eggs vary in length from 0·95 to 1·0, and in breadth from 0·66 to 0·72.
205. Lioptila gracilis (McClell.). The Grey Sibia
Malacias gracilis (McClell.), Hume, cat. no. 429 bis.
Colonel Godwin-Austen is, I believe, the only ornithologist who has as yet
secured the nest and eggs of the Grey Sibia. He says: "In the pine forest
that covers the slopes of the hills descending into the Umian valley in
Assam, one of my men marked a nest on June 25th; I proceeded to the spot soon
after I had heard of it, and on coming up to the tree, a pine, saw the female
fly off out of the head of it. But the nest was so well hidden by the boughs
of the fir, that it was quite invisible from below. The bird after a short
time came back, and then I saw it was Sibia gracilis; but it was very shy and
seeing us went off again, and hung about the trees at a distance of some 50
yards; while thus waiting, some four or five others were also seen. The
female, however, would not venture back, and I sent one of my Goorkhas up, to
cut off the head of the fir, nest and all, first taking out the eggs. It
contained three, of a pale sea-green, with ash-brown streakings and blotchings all over.
"The nest was constructed of dry grass, moss, and rootlets, and the green
spinules of the fir were worked into it, fixing it most firmly in its place in the crown of the pine where it was much forked."
206. Lioptila melanoleuca (Blyth). Tickell's Sibia
Malacias melanoleucus (Blyth), Hume, cat. no. 429 quart.
Mr. W. Davison was fortunate enough to secure a nest of this Sibia on Muleyit
mountain in Tenasserim. He says: "I secured a nest of this species on the
21st of February, containing two spotless pale blue eggs slightly incubated.
The nest, a deep compactly woven cup, was placed about 40 feet from the
ground, in the fork of one of the smaller branches of a high tree growing on the edge of a deep ravine.
"The egg-cavity of the nest is lined with fern-roots, fibres and fine
grass-stems; outside this is a thick coating of dried bamboo-leaves and
coarse grass, and outside this again is a thick irregular coating of green
moss, dried leaves, and coarse fibres and fern-roots. Externally the nest
measures about 5 inches in height, and nearly the same in external diameter at the top. The egg-cavity measures 1·7 deep by 2·7 across.
"The eggs, a pale spotless blue, measure 0·95 and 0·98 in length by 0·66 and 0·68 in breadth."
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