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237. Pteruthius erythropterus (Vig.). The
Red-winged Shrike-Tit
Pteruthius erythropterus (Vig.) Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 245; Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 609.
Writing from Murree, Colonel C. H. T. Marshall says: "There is no record
about the nidification of this species. Its nest is exceedingly difficult to
find, and it was only by long and careful watching through field-glasses that
Captain Cock discovered that there was a nest at the top of a very high
chestnut-tree, to and from which the birds kept flying with
building-materials in their beaks. The nest is most skillfully concealed,
being at the top of the tree, with bunches of leaves both above and below.
The nest, like that of the Oriole, is built pendent in a fork. It is somewhat
roughly made of moss and hair. The eggs are pinky white, blotched with red,
forming in some a ring round the larger end. They average 0·9 in length and
0·65 in breadth. We were fortunate enough to secure two nests; both were more
than 60 feet from the ground. Breeds in the end of May, at an elevation of
7000 feet."
Captain Cock says: "I first found this bird building its nest on the top of a
high chestnut-tree at Murree in the month of May. When the nest was ready I
took my friend Captain C. H. T. Marshall to be present at the taking of it,
as it had never, I think, been taken before. We took the nest on the 30th
May. It was an open flattish cup, like the nest of O. kundoo in
structure, only shallower. It contained three eggs, pinky white, covered with
a shower of claret spots that at the larger end formed a cap of dark claret
colour. Another nest, which I took in June from the top of an oak, contained
two eggs."
To Colonel Marshall and Captain Cock I am indebted for a nest and egg of this
species.
The nest is a moderately deep cup, suspended between two prongs of a
horizontal fork. Externally it is about 4 inches in diameter and about 3
inches in depth. The egg-cavity is nearly hemispherical, 3 inches in diameter
and 1·5 in depth. It is a very loosely made structure, composed internally of
not very fine roots and externally coated with green moss. Along the lines of
suspension a good deal of wool is incorporated in the structure, and it is
chiefly by this wool that the nest is suspended. The fork is a slender one,
the prongs being from 0·3 to 0·4 in diameter.
The egg is a broad oval, a good deal pointed towards the small end. The shell
is very fine and compact, and has a fine gloss. The ground-colour is white or
pinky white, and is pretty thickly speckled and finely spotted all over with
brownish red and a little pale inky purple. Just towards the large end the
markings are very dense, and form, more or less of a confluent cap of mingled
brownish red and pale lilac, the latter everywhere appearing to underlie the
former.
The egg was taken on the 10th June, and measures 0·9 by 0·68.
239. Pteruthius melanotis, Hodgs. The Chestnut-throated Shrike-Tit
Allotrius oenobarbus, (Temm.) apud Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 246.
Allotrius melanotis, (Hodgson), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 611.
According to Mr. Hodgson's notes and figures, the Chestnut-throated
Shrike-Tit breeds in Sikkim and Nepal up to an elevation of 6000 or 7000
feet. The nest is placed at a height of 6 to 10 feet from the ground, between
some slender, leafy, horizontal fork, between which it is suspended like that
of an Oriole or White-eye. It is composed of moss and moss-roots and
vegetable fibres, beautifully and compactly woven into a shallow cup some 4
inches in diameter, and with a cavity some 2·5 in diameter and less than 1 in
depth. Interiorly the nest is lined with hair-like fibres and moss-roots;
exteriorly it is adorned with pieces of lichen. The eggs are two or three in
number, very regular ovals, about 0·77 in length by 0·49 in width. The
ground-colour is a delicate pinky lilac, and they are speckled and spotted
with violet or violet-purple, the markings being most numerous towards the
large end, where they have a tendency to form a mottled zone.
243. Aegithine tiphia (Linn.). The Common Iora
Iora zeylonica (Gm.) _et_ I. typhia (Linn.), Jerdon. B. Ind.
ii, pp. 101, 103.
Aegithine tiphia (Linn.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. nos. 467, 468.
I have already on several occasions recorded my inability to distinguish as
distinct species Ae. tiphia and Ae. zeylonica. I am quite open
to conviction; but believing them, so far as my present investigations go, to
be inseparable, I propose to treat them as a single species in the present
notice.
The Common Iora (the genus, though possibly nearly allied, is too distinct
from Chloropsis to allow me to adopt, as Jerdon does, one common
trivial name for both) breeds in different localities from May to September.
I have taken nests and eggs of typical examples of both supposed species, and
have had them sent me with the parent birds by many correspondents; and
though both vary a good deal, I am convinced that all the variations which
occur in the nests and eggs of one race occur also in those of the other. If
one gets only two or three clutches of the eggs of each, great differences,
naturally attributed to difference of species, may be detected; but I have
seen more than fifty, and, so far as I am concerned, I have no hesitation in
asserting that, as in the case of the birds so in that of their nests and
eggs, no constant differences can be detected if only sufficiently large
series are compared.
The birds build usually on the upper surface of a horizontal bough, at a
height of from 10 to 25 feet from the ground. Sometimes, when the bough is
more or less slanting, the nest assumes somewhat more of a pocket-shape.
Occasionally it is built between three or four slender twigs, forming an
upright fork; but this is quite exceptional.
As a rule nests of the Iora very closely resemble those of Leucocerca,
so much so that when I sent a beautiful photograph of a nest, which I had
myself watched building, of the latter species to Mr. Blyth, he
unhesitatingly pronounced it to be a nest of the former. There is, however, a
certain amount of difference; the Iora's nests are looser and somewhat less
compact and firm. My experience does not confirm Mr. Brooks's remarks that
they are usually shallower; on the contrary all those now before me are, as
indeed all the many I can remember to have seen were, deep, thin-walled cups,
which had been placed on more or less horizontal branches, not uncommonly
where some upright-growing twig afforded the nest additional security. The
egg-cavity averages about 2 inches in diameter, and varies from an inch to 1¼
inch in depth; the walls, composed of vegetable fibres, and varying in
different specimens from only one eighth to three eighths of an inch in
thickness, are everywhere thickly coated externally with cobwebs, by which
also the nest is firmly attached to the branch on which it is seated, as well
as, where such adjoin the nest, to any little twig springing from that
branch. Interiorly they are more or less neatly lined with very fine
grass-stems. The bottom of the nest in its thinnest part is rarely above one
eighth of an inch in thickness, but running, as it so often does, down the
curving sides of the branch, it becomes a good deal thicker, and where placed
on a small branch, say not exceeding an inch in diameter, the lateral
portions of the bottom of the nest are sometimes more than half an inch in
thickness.
One nest which I obtained recently in the Botanical Gardens at Calcutta was
built in an upright fork of four slender twigs; and in this case the bottom
of the nest was obtusely conical, and at its deepest point may have been
nearly an inch in depth. I have never seen a similar nest.
The eggs are normally three in number, but I have at times found only two,
and these more or less incubated.
Mr. Brooks, writing of a nest he took in the Mirzapoor District, says: "Did
you ever get particulars of the nest of Iora zeylonica on the forked
branch of a mango-tree 12 or 14 feet from the ground? Nest composed of the
same materials as that of Leucocerca albifrontata, but not quite so
neat and much more shallow; eggs salmon-colored and spotted with pale reddish
brown, intermixed with a few larger dashes of purple-grey. The bird lays in
July; three eggs. This is the only nest I have not taken since I came to
India the second time."
From Raipoor, Mr. F. R. Blewitt remarks: "The Iora breeds from July to
September, and certainly not, as Dr. Jerdon supposes, twice a year. Both
birds assist in the building of the nests, and there evidently appears to be
no choice of any particular kind of tree on which to build. I have found them
indiscriminately on the mango, mowah,
Neem, and other trees. The nest is
invariably made either just above or between the fork of two outshooting
slender horizontal branches. It is very neatly made, deeply cup-shaped, of
grass and fibres, with spider's web on the exterior. The maximum number of
eggs is three; they are of a pale whitish colour, marked generally, chiefly
at the broad end, with brownish spots. The brown spots vary in size on
different eggs. I secured the first eggs on the 12th July, and the last on
the 2nd September. A pair of birds were on this last date just completing
their nest, which unfortunately was destroyed by the heavy rains."
Captain Cock says: "Iora tiphia is tolerably common at Seetapoor (Oudh),
and I have several times taken their nests and eggs. I may here mention that
I have taken eggs of Iora zeylonica at Etawah, and that knowing the
birds well, I can say that it is quite a distinct bird; although in the
marking of its eggs there is a slight resemblance, yet the nests of the two
species are quite different. On the 13th May I observed a nest of I.
tiphia on a young mango-tree, at the edge of a croquet-ground in our
garden. I shot both male and female and took the eggs; the nest was placed on
the upperside of a sloping bough, was covered outside with cobweb, and lined
with thin dry grass. It contained two fresh eggs of a delicate pink colour,
with broad irregularly-shaped dashes of light brown down the sides of the
shell, not tending to coalesce in any way at either apex. Another pair also
built their nest on the edge of the same ground in another tree; but
unfortunately in a weak moment I pointed out the nest to a lady friend, and
as thereafter no one ever played croquet on the ground without staring at the
nest, the birds got disgusted and soon deserted it."
To this I need merely add that of course typical Ae. tiphia and
typical Ae. zeylonica are very distinct, but that as every
intermediate form occurs, they are not, according to my views of what
constitutes a species, entitled to specific separation, and that as regards
nest and eggs, according to my experience, every variety in the one is to be
found in the other.
Dr. Jerdon, speaking of Southern India, remarks: "I have seen the nest and
eggs on several occasions. The nest is deep, cup-shaped, very neatly made
with grass, various fibres, hairs, and spiders' webs; and the eggs, two or
three in number, are reddish white, with numerous darker red spots, chiefly
at the thicker end. It breeds in the south of India in August and September;
perhaps, however, twice a year."
Writing from South Wynaad, Mr. J. Darling (Junior) says: "I found the nest,
which with the eggs and both parents I have now sent you, in the Teriat Hills
on the 24th May, at an elevation of about 2300 feet. It was placed on, and
near the extremity of, a bough, at a height of about 10 feet from the ground.
It is round, about 2 inches in height and the same in diameter, and the
cavity was about an inch or a trifle more in depth. It is built of grass and
reed-bamboo-fibres, and is coated with spider's web. It only contained two
eggs."
Both parents (sexes ascertained by dissection) are in the typical tiphia
plumage, without one particle of black on either head, nape, or back.
Mr. Davidson writes: "In the Satara and Sholapur districts the cock puts on
his summer plumage in May and the whole back of head, neck, and back (not
rump) is glossy and black. This bird lays from the end of June to beginning
of August. It is very shy when building and is easily caused to forsake its
nest; if a single egg is taken from the nest it does not forsake it, however,
but lays on (three instances this year)."
Mr. W. E. Brooks has favored me with the following very interesting note on
the habits of this Iora:
"Ioras are very numerous and have such a variety of notes that I thought at
first there were several sorts; but as far as I can see there is but one
species. Iora spreads its tail in a wonderful manner, and comes spinning
round and round towards the ground looking more like a round ball than a
bird. All the time it descends it utters a strange note, something like that
of a frog or cricket, a protracted sibilant sound. This bird is close to
Liothrix and Stachyrhis, although it belongs to the plains."
Colonel Butler writes: "A nest on the 17th August, 1880, on the outside
branch of a silk-cotton tree in Belgaum about 12 feet from the ground,
containing three fresh eggs. I found many other nests building all through
the hot weather and rains; but in every single instance except the present
one they were deserted before they were completed."
Major Bingham writes from Tenasserim: "This species is common throughout the
country. As a rule its nest is well hid, but one I saw in the compound of a
house in Maulmain was placed in the exposed leafless fork of a tree, not
above six feet from the ground. It contained no eggs when I examined it, and
was deserted a day or two after. This was in the beginning of May."
Mr. Oates remarks on the breeding of this bird in Pegu: "Nests are found
chiefly in June and July, but the birds probably lay also in May."
In shape the eggs are moderately broad ovals, slightly pointed towards one
end. They vary, however, a good deal, some being much more elongated than
others. They are almost entirely devoid of gloss. The ground-colour is
generally greyish white, but some have creamy and some a salmon tinge;
typically they have numerous long streaky pale brown or reddish-brown
blotches, chiefly confined to the large end, where they often seem to spring
from an irregular imperfect zone of the same colour. The colour of the
blotches varies a good deal. In some it is a pale greyish or purplish brown;
in others decidedly reddish, or even well-marked and somewhat yellowish
brown. Some pale, purplish streaks and clouds generally underlie the brown
blotches where they are thickest, and there form a kind of nimbus. In some
eggs the markings are confined to a narrow imperfect zone of pale purplish
specks or very tiny blotches round the large end, and some of the eggs remind
one of those of Leucocerca albifrontata. The peculiar streaky
longitudinal character of the markings, almost wholly confined to the large
end, best distinguishes the eggs of the Ioras from those of any other Indian
bird with which they are likely to be confounded.
In length they vary from 0·63 to 0·76, and in breadth from 0·51 to 0·57: but
the average of forty-seven eggs measured is 0·69, nearly, by a trifle more
than 0·54.
246. Myzornis pyrrhura, Hodgson. The Fire-tailed Myzornis
Myzornis pyrrboura, (Hodgson), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 263; Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 629.
I have received a single egg said to belong to the Fire-tailed Myzornis from
Native Sikkim, where it was found in May in a small nest (unfortunately
mislaid) which was placed on a branch of a large tree at no great height from
the ground. The place where it was found had an elevation of about 10,000
feet. Although the parent bird was sent with the egg, I cannot say that I
have any great confidence in its authenticity, and only record the matter
quantum valeat.
The egg is a very regular, rather elongated oval. The egg was never properly
blown and has been consequently somewhat discolored. It may have been pure
white, and it may have been fairly glossy when fresh, but it is now a dull
ivory-white with scarcely any gloss. It measured 0·68 in length by 0·5 in
breadth.
252. Chloropsis jerdoni (Blyth). Jerdon's Chloropsis
Phyllornis jerdoni, (Blyth), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 97; Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 463.
I have never myself found the nest of Jerdon's Chloropsis, but my friend Mr.
F. R. Blewitt has sent me numerous specimens of both nests and eggs from
Raipoor and its neighborhood. In that part of the country July and August
appear to be the months in which it lays; but elsewhere its eggs have been
taken in April, May, and June, so that its breeding-season is much the same
as that of many of the Bulbuls. The nest is a small, rather shallow cup, at
most 3½ inches in diameter and 1½ in depth; is composed externally entirely
of soft tow-like vegetable fibre, which appears to be worked over a light
framework of fine roots and slender tamarisk-stems, amongst which, some
little pieces of lichen are intermingled. There is no attempt at a lining,
the eggs being laid on the fine grass and slender twigs (about the thickness
of an ordinary-sized pin) which compose the framework of the nest.
The eggs as a rule appear to be two in number.
Mr. Blewitt remarks: "The Green Bulbul breeds in July and August. The bird
does not preferentially select any one description of tree for its nest,
though the greater number secured were taken from mowah trees (Bassia
latifolia). The nest is generally firmly affixed at the fork of the end
twigs of an upper branch from 15 to 25 feet from the ground. Sometimes,
however, eschewing twigs, the bird constructs its nest on the _top_ of the
main branch itself, cunningly securing it with the material to the rough
exterior surface of the branch. Three is certainly the maximum number of
eggs. During the period of nidification the parent birds are very watchful
and noisy, and their alarm and over-anxiety on the near approach of a
stranger often betray the nest."
The late Captain Beavan recorded the following interesting note in regard to
this species:
"This handsome bird is very abundant in Manbhoom, where it is called 'Hurrooa'
by the natives. Its note is so much like that of Dicrurus ater that I
have frequently been deceived by the resemblance. It breeds in the district.
A nest with two eggs was brought to me at Beerachalee on April 4th, 1865. It
is built at the fork of a bough and neatly suspended from it, like a hammock,
by silky fibres, which are firmly fixed to the two sprigs of the fork, and
also form part of the bottom and outside of the nest. The inside is lined
with dry bents and hairs. The eggs (creamy white with a few light pinky-brown
spots) are rather elongated, measuring 0·85 by 0·62. Interior diameter of
nest 2·25, depth 1·5. The cry of alarm of this species is like that of
Parus major."
Dr. Jerdon remarked ('Illustrations of Indian Ornithology'), writing at the
time from Southern India:
"I have seen a nest of this species in the possession of S. N. Ward, Esq. It
is a neat but slightly cup-shaped nest, composed chiefly of fine grass, and
was placed near the extremity of a branch, some of the nearest leaves being,
it was said, brought down and loosely surrounding it. It contained two eggs,
white, with a few claret-colored blotches. Its nest and eggs, I may remark,
show an analogy to that of the Orioles."
Mr. Layard tells us that this species is "extremely common in the south of
Ceylon, but rare towards the north. It feeds in small flocks on seeds and
insects, and builds an open cup-shaped nest. The eggs, four in number, are
white, thickly mottled at the obtuse end with purplish spots."
And Sir W. Jardine says: "For the interesting nest and eggs of Phyllornis
jerdoni, (Blyth), we are indebted to E. S. Layard, Esq., Magistrate of
the district of Point Pedro (the northernmost extremity of Ceylon), in which
district we understand it to have been procured. A large groove along the
underside of the nest indicates it to have been placed upon a branch; the
general form is somewhat flat, and it is composed of very soft materials,
chiefly dry grass and silky vegetable fibres, rather compactly interwoven
with some pieces of dead leaf and bark on the outside, over which a good deal
of spider's web has been worked. It contains four eggs, white, abruptly
speckled over with dark bistre mingled with some ashy spots." Layard is not
generally reliable where eggs are concerned, for he did not usually take them
with his own hands and natives will lie; and I doubt the four eggs here, but
I think, so far as the nest goes, that he was right in this case.
The eggs are rather elongated ovals; some of them a good deal pointed towards
one end, others again slightly pyriform. The shell is very delicate; the
ground-colour white to creamy white; as a rule almost glossless, in some
specimens slightly glossy. They are sparingly marked, usually chiefly at the
large end, with spots, specks, small blotches, hair-lines, or
hieroglyphic-like figures, which are typically almost black, but which in
some eggs are blackish, or even reddish, or purplish brown. In no specimens
that I have seen were the markings at all numerous, except just at the large
end; and in some they consist solely of a few tiny specks, scattered about
the crown of the egg.
The eggs vary from 0·8 to 0·92 in length, and from 0·56 to 0·63 in breadth;
but the average of a dozen was 0·86 by 0·6.
254. Irena puella (Latham). The Fairy Blue-bird
Irena puella (Latham), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 105; Hume, Rough Draft N.
& E. no 469.
Mr. Frank Bourdillon favored me with an egg of the Fairy Blue-bird, which
with other rare eggs he obtained on the Assamboo Hills. So little is known of
this range that I quote his remarks upon this locality.
"I must premise that the specimens were obtained along the Assamboo Range of
hills, between the elevations of 1500 and 3000 feet above sea-level. This
range of hills, running in a north-westerly and south-easterly direction from
Cape Comorin to 8°33' north latitude, forms the boundary line between
Travancore and the British Territory of Tinnevelly, the average height of the
range being about 4000 feet, while some of the peaks are as high as 5500
feet. The general character of the hills is dense forest, broken here and
there by grass ridges and crowned by precipitous rocks, above which lies an
almost unexplored table-land, varying in width from a mile to 12 or 15 miles,
at an elevation of almost 4000 feet."
"The egg of the Fairy Blue-bird," he adds, "was taken slightly set on the
28th February, 1873, from a loose sparsely-built nest situated in a sapling
about 12 feet from the ground. The nest was composed of dead twigs lined with
leaves, and was about 4 inches broad and very slightly indented."
As will be remembered, Dr. Jerdon states that "Mr. Ward obtained, what he was
informed were, the nest and eggs; the nest was large, made of roots and
fibres and lined with moss; and the eggs, two in number, were pale greenish,
much spotted with dusky:" and I have no doubt that Mr. Ward's eggs were
genuine.
The egg is an elongated oval, compressed almost throughout its entire length,
very blunt at both points; a long cone, the apex broadly truncated and
rounded off obtusely, sealed on half a very oblate spheroid. In no one single
point--shape, texture of shell, colour or character of markings - does this
egg approach to those of either the Oriole or the Chloropsis. This shell is
very close-grained and fine, but only moderately glossy. The ground is pale
green, and it is streaked and blotched with pale dull brown. The markings are
almost entirely confluent over the large end (where they appear to be
underlaid by dingy, dimly discernible greyish blotches), and from the cap
thus formed they descend in streaky mottlings towards the small end, growing
fewer and further apart as they approach this latter, which is almost devoid
of markings.
It is impossible to generalize from a single specimen as to the position this
bird should hold, but this one egg renders it quite certain to my mind that
the nearest allies of Irena are neither Oriolus nor
Chloropsis, and that it is quite impossible to place it with the
Dicruridae. The eggs of Psaroglossa spiloptera are not very
dissimilar, and I expect that it is somewhere between the Paradiseidae,
Sturnidae, and Icteridae that Irena will ultimately have
to be located.
The egg measures 1·1 by 0·73.
Mr. Fulton Bourdillon writes: "The last note I have to send you at present is
that of a Blue-bird's nest (Irena puella). Of this there can be no
possible doubt, as my brother and I shot both the male and female birds, and
I took the nest with my own hands. It was in a pollard tree beside a stream
among some thick branches about 20 feet from the ground. The nest was neatly
but very loosely constructed of fresh green moss, which formed the bulk of
the nest, and lined with the flower-stalks of a jungle shrub. It was very
well concealed, and was about 4 inches broad with a cavity not more than 1½
inch deep. It contained two eggs slightly set, measuring respectively 1·11 x
·84 and 1·16 x ·81. These eggs tally very fairly in colour, shape, and size
with those sent last year; of the identity of which I was doubtful at the
time, though now I think there can be no mistake.
"Since writing last I have had another nest of Irena puella brought me
with two fresh eggs. The nest was very loosely put together and similar in
all respects to the one last sent. The eggs measure ·95 x ·81 and ·92 x ·79,
with the same well-defined ring round the larger end. The nest was in a small
tree about 10 feet from the ground and was well concealed. It was composed of
twigs, without any lining."
The nest sent me by Mr. Bourdillon is a very flimsy affair, reminding one
much of the nest of Graucalus macii and not in the smallest degree of
that of an Oriole. A mere pad, some 4 inches in diameter, composed of very
thin twigs or dry flower-stalks with a couple of dead leaves intermingled,
and an external coating of green moss.
Major C. T. Bingham has favored me with the following notes from Tenasserim:
"At the sources of the Winsaw stream, a feeder of the Thoungyeen river, on
the 30th April I found a nest of this bird, a mere irregularly roundish pad
of moss with very little depression in the centre, containing two fresh eggs,
and placed 12 feet or so above the ground in the fork of an evergreen
sapling. The eggs measure 1·18 x 0·86 and 1·19 x 0·86 respectively, and are
so thickly spotted and blotched with brown as to show very little of the
ground-colour, which latter, however, appears to be of a greenish white.
"On the 11th April I was slowly clambering along a very steep hill-side
overlooking the Queebaw choung, a small tributary of the Meplay stream, when
from a tree whose crown was below my feet I startled a female Irena puella
off her nest. I could see the nest and that it contained two eggs, so I shot
the female, who had taken to a tree a little above me. On getting the nest
down, I found it a poor affair of little twigs, with a superstructure of
moss, shaped into a shallow saucer, on which reposed two eggs, large for the
size of the bird, of a dull greenish white, much dashed, speckled, and
spotted with brown. They were so hard-set that I only managed to save one,
which measured 1·09 by 0·77 inch."
Mr. Davison writes: "At Kussoom, in some moderately thin tree-jungle I found
the nest of Irena puella. The nest was placed in the fork of a sapling
some 12 feet from the ground. The nest externally was composed of dry twigs,
carelessly and irregularly put together. The egg-cavity was shallow, not more
than 1·5 inch at its deepest part, and it was lined with finer twigs,
fern-roots, and some yellowish fibre. The nest contained two fresh eggs."
Two eggs, taken by Mr. Davison at Kussoom in the north of the Malay
Peninsula, to which the Malayan form does not extend, are rather elongated
ovals, with a slightly pyriform tendency. The shell is fine, smooth, and
compact, and has a perceptible gloss. The ground-colour is greenish white;
round the large end is a huge, smudgy, irregular zone of reddish brown and
inky grey, the one colour predominating in the one egg, the other in the
other. Inside the zone are specks and spots of the same colors, and below the
zone streaks and spots of these same colors, thinly set, stretched downwards
towards the small end of the egg.
Other eggs subsequently received are very similar to that first sent by Mr.
Bourdillon, except that in shape they are more regular ovals, and that the
brown markings in some have a reddish and in some a purplish tinge, and that
in some eggs the mottings and markings are pretty thick even at the small
end. In length they seem to vary from 1·08 to 1·2 inch and in breadth from
0·73 to 0·88 inch.
In some eggs the ground appears to have no green tinge, but is simply a
greyish white. In one egg the markings are all of one colour, a sort of
chocolate-brown, a dense almost confluent mass of mottlings in a broad
irregular zone round the large end and elsewhere pretty thickly set over the
entire surface of the egg. They have always a certain amount of gloss, but
are never very glossy.
257. Mesia argentauris, Hodgson Silver-eared Mesia
Leiothrix argentauris (Hodgson), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 251.
Mesia argentauris, (Hodgson), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 615.
According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, the Silver-eared Mesia breeds in the
low-lands of Nepal, laying in May and June. The nest is placed in a bushy
tree, between two or three thin twigs, to which it is attached. It is
composed of dry bamboo and other leaves, thin grass-roots and moss, and is
lined inside with fine roots. Three or four eggs are laid: one of these is
figured as a broad oval, much pointed towards one end, measuring 0·8 by 0·6,
having a pale green ground with a few brownish-red specks, and a close circle
of spots of the same colour round the large end.
Dr. Jerdon brought me two eggs from Darjeeling, which he believed to belong
to this species. They much resemble those of Liothrix lutea. They are
oval, scarcely pointed at all towards the lesser end, and are faintly
glossed. The ground-colour of one is greenish, the other creamy, white, and
both are spotted and streaked, chiefly in an irregular zone near the large
end, with different shades of red and purple. The markings are smaller than
those of the preceding species. Further observations are necessary to confirm
the authenticity of the eggs.
They measure 0·85 and 0·87 by 0·65.
From Sikkim Mr. Gammie writes: "I have taken about half a dozen nests of this
bird. They closely resemble those of Liothrix lutea in size and
structure and are similarly situated, but instead of having the egg-cavity
lined with dark-colored material, as that species has, all I found had
light-colored linings; such was even the case with one nest I found within
three or four yards of a nest of the other species. The eggs are usually four
in number."
Other eggs obtained by Mr. Gammie correspond with those given me by Dr.
Jerdon. They are as like the eggs of L. lutea as they can possibly be,
and if there is any difference, it consists in the markings of the present
species being as a body smaller and more speckled than those of L. lutea.
The six eggs that I have vary in length from 0·82 to 0·9, and in breadth from
0·6 to 0·65.
[Footnote: There is in the Tweeddale collection a skin of a young
nestling of this species procured by Limborg on Muleyit mountain in
Tenasserim in the second week of April. On the label attached to the specimen
is a note to the effect that the nest from which the nestling was taken was
made of moss.--ED.]
258. Minla igneitincta, Hodgson Red-tailed Minla
Minla ignotincta, (Hodgson), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 254: Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 618.
The Red-tailed Minla, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes and figures, breeds in
the central region of Nepal and near Darjeeling, during May and June. It
builds a beautiful rather deep cup-shaped nest of mosses, moss-roots, and
some cow's hair, lined with these two latter. The nest is placed in the fork
of three or four slender branches of some bushy tree, at no great elevation
from the ground, and is attached to one or more of the stems in which it is
placed by bands of moss and fibres. A nest taken on the 24th May measured
externally 3·28 inches in diameter and 2·25 in height; internally the cavity
was 2 inches in diameter and 1·62 in depth. They lay from two to four eggs,
of a pale verditer-blue ground, speckled and spotted pretty boldly with
brownish red. An egg is figured as a regular rather broad oval, measuring
0·78 by 0·55.
On the other hand, Dr. Jerdon says: "Its nest has been brought to me, of
ordinary shape, made of moss and grass, and with four white eggs, with a few
rusty red spots."
260. Cephalopyrus flammiceps (Burton). Fire-cap
Cephalopyrus flammiceps (Burton), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 267; Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E. no. 633.
Writing from Murree, Colonel C. H. T. Marshall tells us: "On the 25th May we
found the nest of this species (the Fire-cap) in a hole in a rotten
sycamore-tree about 15 feet from the ground. The nest was a neatly made
cup-shaped one, formed principally of fine grass. We were unfortunately too
late for the eggs, as we found four nearly fledged young ones, showing that
these birds lay about the 15th April. Elevation, 7000 feet."
Captain Cock says: "I found a nest in the stump of an old chestnut-tree at
Murree. The nest was about 13 feet from the ground near the top of the stump,
placed in a natural cavity: it was constructed of fine grass and roots
carefully woven and was of a deep cup shape. It contained five fully fledged
young ones. The end of May was the time when I found this, and I have never
yet succeeded in finding another."
261. Psaroglossa spiloptera (Vigors). Spotted-wing
Saroglossa spiloptera (Vigors), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 336; Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 691.
Personally I know nothing of the nidification of the Spotted-wing.
Captain Hutton tells us that "this species arrives in the hills about the
middle of April in small parties of five or six, but it does not appear to
ascend above 5500 to 6000 feet, and is therefore more properly an inhabitant
of the warm valleys. I do not remember seeing it at Mussoorie, which is 6500
to 7000 feet, although at 5200 feet on the same range it is abundant during
summer. Its notes and flight are very much those of the
Common Starling (Sturnus
vulgaris), and it delights to take a short and rapid flight and return
twittering to perch on the very summit of the forest trees. I have never seen
it on the ground, and its food appears to consist of berries.
"Like the two species of Acridotheres, it nidificates by itself in the
holes of trees, lining the cavity with bits of leaves. The eggs are usually
three, or sometimes four or five, of a delicate pale sea-green speckled with
blood-like stains, which sometimes tend to form a ring near the larger end;
shape oval, slightly tapering."
The eggs are so different in character from those of all the Starlings that
doubts might reasonably arise as to whether this species is placed exactly
where it ought to be by Jerdon and others. I possess at present only three
eggs of this bird, which I owe to Captain Hutton. They are decidedly long
ovals, much pointed towards the small end, and in shape and coloration not a
little recall those of Myiophoneus temmincki. The eggs are glossless,
of a greenish or greyish-white ground, more or less profusely speckled and
spotted with red, reddish brown, and dingy purple. In two of the eggs the
majority of the markings are gathered into a broad irregular speckled zone
round the large end. In the third egg there is just a trace of such a zone
and no markings at all elsewhere. In length they vary from 1·03 to 1·08, and
in breadth from 0·68 to 0·74.*
*[Footnote: HYPOCOLIUS AMPELINUS, Bonap. Grey Hypocolius
Hypocolius ampelinus, Bp., Hume, cat. no. 269 quat.
Although this bird has not yet been found breeding within Indian limits, the
following account of its nidification at Fao, in the Persian Gulf, by Mr. W.
D. Cumming (Ibis, 1886. p. 478) will prove interesting:
"It is not till the middle of June that they breed. In 1883, first eggs were
brought by an Arab about the 13th of June, and on the 15th of the same month
I found a nest containing two fresh eggs. In 1884, on the 14th of June a nest
was brought me containing four fresh eggs, and on the 15th I found a nest
containing also four fresh eggs.
"2nd July, I came across four young birds able to fly. On the 3rd, three
nests were brought, one containing two fresh eggs, another three young just
fledged, and the other four eggs slightly incubated. On the 9th, another
nest, containing four young just fledged was brought. On the 15th I saw a
flock of small birds well able to fly; on the 18th I found a nest containing
four young about a couple of days old, and on the 20th a nest containing
three eggs well incubated was brought from a place called 'Goosba' on the
opposite bank (Persian side) of the river.
"The nests are generally placed on the leaves of the date-palm, at no very
great height. The highest I have seen was built about ten feet from the
ground but from three to five feet is the average height.
"They are substantial and cup-shaped, having a diameter of about 3¼ inches by
2¼ inches in depth, lined inside with fine grass, the soft fluff from the
willow when in seed, wool, and sometimes hair.
"The eggs are of a glossy leaden white, with leaden-colored blotches and
spots towards the larger end, sometimes forming a ring round the larger end
and at times spreading over the entire egg. On rare occasions I have noticed
a greenish tinge in very fresh eggs. This, I think, is due to the colour of
the inner membrane, which is generally a very light green, in some very faint
and in others more decided; this tinge seems to disappear after the egg is
blown.
"Very rough measurements are as follows: 0·9 x 0·63; 0·83 x 0·63; 0·83 x 0·6;
0·83 x 0·66; 0·86 x 0·66."]
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