366. Acrocephalus dumetorum, Blyth.
Blyth's Reed-Warbler
Acrocephalus dumetorum, (Blyth), Jerdon. B. Ind. ii, p. 155.
Calamodyta dumetorum (Blyth), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 516.
Blyth's Reed-Warbler breeds, I believe, for the most part along the
course of the streams of the lower Himalayan and sub-Himalayan ranges,
and in suitable localities on and about these ranges; such at least is
my present idea. They are with us in the plains up to quite the end of
March, and are back again by the last day of August, and during May at
any rate they may be heard and seen everywhere in the valleys south of
the first snowy range.
Mr. Brooks remarks that "this species was excessively common on the Hindustan
side of the Pir-pinjal Range, but I have never seen it in Kashmir. I think it
breeds in the low valleys by the river-sides, for it was in very vigorous song
there at the end of May." This is my experience also, and probably while many
may go north to Central Asia to breed, a good many remain in the localities
indicated.
Captain Hutton says: "This species arrives in the hills up to 7000 feet at least,
in April, when it is very common, and appears in pairs with something of the manner
of a Phylloscopus. The note is a sharp tchick, tchick, resembling the
sound emitted by a flint and steel.
"It disappears by the end of May, in which month they breed; but,
owing to the high winds and strong weather experienced in that month
in 1848, many nests were left incomplete, and the birds must have departed
without breeding."
"One nest, which I took on the 6th May, was a round ball with a
lateral entrance; it was placed in a thick barberry-bush growing at
the side of a deep and sheltered ditch; it was composed of coarse
dry grasses externally and lined with finer grass. Eggs three and
pearl-white, with minute scattered specks of rufous, chiefly at the
larger end. Diameter 0·62 by 0·5."
Mr. A. Anderson wrote the following note: "On the fifth
day after leaving Nainital - ever mindful of my friend Mr. Brooks's
parting advice to me (in reference to the part of the country which
required to be investigated), 'avoid the lower hills as the plague' - I
reached Takula, which is the first march beyond Almora on the road to
the Pindari glacier, late on the evening of the 10th of May. It rained
heavily all that night, so that I was obliged to halt the next day,
my tents being far too wet to be struck, and the distance to the next
halting-place necessitating a start the first thing in the morning.
"Takula is at an elevation between 5000 and 6000 feet; it is
beautifully wooded, with a small mountain-stream flowing right
under the camping-ground, and the climate is delightful. All things
considered, I was not sorry at having an opportunity of exploring such
productive-looking ground; and before it was fairly daylight the next
morning operations were commenced in right earnest. To each of my
collectors I apportioned off a well-wooded mountain-slope, reserving
for my own hunting-ground (as I had not yet got my hill-legs) the
water-courses and ravines in the immediate vicinity of my camp.
"Not more than 20 yards from where my tent stood, there is a deep
ravine clothed on both banks with a dense jungle of the larger kind of nettle
(Girardinia heterophylla), the hilldock (Rumea nepalensis), and
wild-rose trees. Wending my way through this
dark, damp, and muggy nullah to the best of my ability, I came upon
the nest of this interesting little bird; it was placed in the centre
of a rose-bush, at an elevation of some two feet above the bank and
about four feet from where I stood, but yet in a most tantalizing
situation, inasmuch as it was necessary to remove several thorny
branches before an examination of the nest was possible.
"The act of cutting away the branches alarmed my sombre little
friend (I knew that the nest was tenanted, as the bill and head were
distinctly visible through the lateral entrance), and out she darted
with such a whir that anything like satisfactory identification
for a bird of this sort was utterly hopeless. The nest contained four
beautiful little eggs, so that to bag the parent bird was a matter of
the first importance; all my attempts, however, first to capture
her on the nest and next to shoot her as she flew off, were equally
futile, her movements being as rapid and erratic as forked lightning.
And here let me give a word of advice to my brother ornithologists:
Never attempt to shoot a wary little bird in the act of leaving its
nest, as you only run the risk of wounding perhaps an unknown bird, in
which case she will never again
return to her nest; but lie in ambush for her with, outlying scants, and
make certain of her as she is returning to her nest. She will
first alight on a neighboring tree, then on one closer, coming nearer
and nearer each time; finally, she will perch on the very tree or bush
in which the nest is built, and while taking a look round to see that
all is well before making a final ascent, you have yourself to blame
if you fail to bag her. All this sounds very cruel; but if a bird must
be shot for scientific purposes, it is surely preferable to kill it
outright than to let it die a lingering death. Thus it was that I
eventually succeeded, even at the expense of being devoured alive by
midges and mosquitoes; but then had I not the satisfaction of
knowing that to become the happy possessor of authentic eggs of
Acrocephalus dumetorum was in itself sufficient to repay me for my
hill excursion!
"I cannot, however, pretend to lay claim to originality in the
discovery of the breeding-habits of this bird, for Hutton's
description of the nest and eggs taken by him so fully accords with my
own experience, that it is but fair to conclude he was correct in his
identification. I would add, however, with reference to his remarks,
that the nest above alluded to was more elliptical than spherical,
being about the size and shape of an Ostrich's egg, that it was
constructed throughout of the largest and coarsest blades
of various kinds of dry grass, the egg-cavity being lined with
grass-bents of a finer quality, and that it was domed over, having a
lateral entrance about the middle of the nest. The whole structure
was so loosely put together as to fall to pieces immediately it was
removed.
"The eggs, four in number, are pure while, beautifully glossed, and
well covered with rufous or reddish-brown specks, most numerous at the
obtuse end. Owing to its similarity to a number of eggs, particularly
to those of the Titmouse group, it is just one of those that I would
never feel comfortable in accepting on trust.
"It was a remarkable coincidence that the very day I took this nest
my post brought me part iv. of the P.Z.S. for 1874, containing Mr. Dresser's
interesting paper on the nidification of the Hypolais
and Acrocephalus groups; and if I understand him rightly, he is
certainly correct in his surmise as to the eggs of Acrocephalus
dumetorum approaching those of the Hypolais group.
"My good luck, as regards Blyth's Reed-Warbler, did not end here, for
on the following day, at Bagesur, at an elevation of only 3000 feet,
I again encountered a pair of these birds, finding their nest on the
banks of the Surjoo. The position, shape, and architecture of this
nest were identical with the one I have above described, but the eggs
unfortunately had not been laid. The little birds, on this occasion,
were quite fearless, hopping from stem to stem of the dense
undergrowth which throughout the Bagesur valley fringes both banks of
the river, every now and again making a temporary halt for the purpose
of picking insects off the leaves, with an occasional tchick,'
which Hutton resembles to the 'sound emitted by a flint and
steel,' but all the time enticing me away from the site of their
dwelling-place. In this way they led me a wild-goose chase several
times up and down the river-bank before I was able to discover the
whereabouts of their nest."
Captain Hutton sent me three eggs of this species. The eggs are
otherwise unknown to me, and I describe them only on Captain Hutton's
authority. The eggs are rather broad ovals, very smooth and compact in
texture, but with little or no gloss. They are pure white, very thinly
speckled with reddish and yellowish brown, the markings being most
numerous towards the large end, and even there somewhat sparse and
very minute. They measure respectively 0·65 by 0·52, 0·65 by 0·51, and
0·62 by 0·51.
367. Acrocephalus agricola (Jerdon). Paddy-field Reed-Warbler
Acrocephalus agricolus (Jerdon), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 156.
Calamodyta agricola (Jerdon), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E.
no. 517.
The Paddy-field Reed-Warbler nests apparently occasionally in May and
Jane in the valleys of the Himalayas, the great majority probably
going further north-west to breed.
Very little is known about the matter. I have shot the birds in the
interior of the hills in May, but I have never seen a nest.
Mr. Brooks, however, says: "Near Shupyion (Kashmir) I found a
finished empty nest of this truly aquatic warbler in a rose-bush which
was intergrown with rank nettles. This was in the roadside where there
was a shallow stream of beautifully clear water. On either side of the
road were vast tracts of paddy swamp, in which the natives were busily
engaged planting the young rice-plants. The nest strongly resembled that of
Curruca garrula. The male with his throat puffed out
was singing on the bush a loud vigorous pretty song like a Lesser
Whitethroat's, but more varied. I shot the strange songster, on
which the female flew from the nest. This was the only pair of these
interesting birds that I met with. I think, therefore, that their
breeding in Kashmir is not a common occurrence."
This nest, now in my collection, was found on the 13th June, at an
elevation of about 5500 feet, in the Valley of Kashmir. It is a deep,
almost purse-like cup, very loosely and carelessly put together, of
moderately fine grass, in amongst which a quantity of wool has been
intermingled.
371. Tribura thoracica (Blyth). Spotted Bush-Warbler
Dumeticola affinis (Hodgson), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 158.
Dumeticola brunneipectus, (Blyth), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E.
no. 519 bis.
Mr. Hodgson gives a very careful figure of a female bird of this
species, together with its nest and egg, but he labels it underneath affinis.
As we know, he described affinis as having spots on the
breast; but he further notes that at the same place at which he obtained
the female, nest, and eggs, he also got a male bird with spots on the
breast; in fact, in other words, he seems to have come to the conclusion that
Dumeticola affinis was the male and that Dumeticola
brunneipectus, which he did not separately name, though he has
beautifully figured it, was the female. I have specimens of both, but
the sexes were not ascertained; still I doubt whether the two birds can
possibly be merely different sexes of the same species. Anyhow, the female
bird which he figures is really brunneipectus, and
under that name I notice the nest and eggs on which the female figured
was captured. Mr. Hodgson notes: "Gosainthan. In the snows; female
and nest.
"August 2nd - Nest in a bunch of reeds placed slantingly: ovate
in shape; aperture at one side; placed about half a foot above
the ground, made of grasses and moss, 4 or 5 inches in diameter
exteriorly, interiorly between 2 and 3 inches." The eggs are figured
as moderately broad ovals, measuring 0·65 by 0·48, of a uniform deep
cinnabar-red, reminding one of the eggs of Prinia socialis, but much
deeper in colour*.
*[There can be no doubt, I think, that T. affinis and T.
brunneipectus are the same species as T. thoracica. I reproduce Mr.
Hodgson's note on the nesting of this species together with Mr. Hume's
remarks, but I feel sure that the nest described by Mr. Hodgson and
the egg figured by him cannot belong to the present species.--ED.]
Mr. Mandelli sends me three nests of this species, all found near
Yendong, in Native Sikkim, at an elevation of about 9000 feet, on the
15th, 17th, and 21st July. The nests contained two, two, and three
fresh eggs respectively, and were placed, two of them in small
brushwood, and one in a clump of rush or grass, from 9 to 18 inches
above the ground. They seem to have all been rather massive little
cups, composed exteriorly of broad grass-blades rather clumsily wound
together, and lined with rather finer, but by no means fine grass.
In two of them some dead leaves have been incorporated in the basal
portion.
They are rather dirty, shabby-looking nests, obviously made of dead
materials, old withered and partially-decayed grass, and not with
fresh grass; they seem to have measured 3 inches in diameter, and 2·5
in height externally; the cavity was perhaps 1·5 to 1·75 in diameter,
and 1 inch more or less in depth.
From Sikkim Mr. Gammie writes: "Nest among scrub in small bush, 2
feet from ground, at 5000 feet above the sea. Found on the 3rd June,
when it contained two eggs; taken on the 5th, with four eggs. I
dissected the bird killed off the nest, and found it to be a female;
in her stomach were the remains of a few insects. The nest is
cup-shaped, loosely made of dry leaves and grass, lined with, for the
size of the bird, coarse grass-stalks. Externally it measures 3·5
inches in breadth by 2·5 deep; internally 2 broad by 1·5 deep."
This nest taken by Mr. Gammie near Rungbee on the 5th June, 1875, at
an elevation of about 5000 feet, contained four eggs. It was a massive
little cup about 3 inches in diameter externally, and with an internal
cavity about 2 inches in diameter and 1¾ inch deep; was rather loosely
put together, externally composed of dead leaves and broad flags of
grass, internally lined with grass-stems.
The eggs of this species are very regular broad ovals, the shells fine
but glossless, the ground-colour a dead white, thickly speckled and
spotted about the large end, thinly elsewhere, with somewhat brownish
and again purplish red. The markings are all very fine and small, but
where they are closely set at the large end there a few little pale
purplish-grey specks and spots are intermingled.
The eggs measure 0·68 by 0·55.
The eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Mandelli in the neighborhood
of Darjeeling in July are so similar to those obtained by Mr. Gammie,
and of which he sent me the parent bird, that no second description is
necessary. They are a shade smaller, but the difference is not more
than is always observable in even the same species. They measure 0·67
in length, and 0·53 to 0·55 in breadth.
372. Tribura luteiventris, (Hodgson) Brown Bush-Warbler
Tribura luteiventris, (Hodgson), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 161; Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 522.
A bird unquestionably belonging to this species*, the Brown
Bush-Warbler, was sent me along with a single egg from Native Sikkim.
The bird was said to have been killed off the nest (which was not
preserved), which was found, at an elevation of about 12,000 feet,
in low brushwood about 3 feet from the ground.
*[I do not place much confidence in the authenticity of the
egg of this bird sent to Mr. Hume. Being a Warbler with twelve
tail-feathers, it is unlikely to lay a red egg, and besides this the eggs of
the allied species, T. thoracica, as found by trustworthy
observers like Messrs. Gammie and Mandelli, are known to be white
speckled with red, in spite of Mr. Hodgson's figure representing them to
be deep cinnabar-red.--ED.]
The egg is a very regular, rather broad oval, has only a faint gloss,
and is of a very rich deep maroon-red, slightly darker at the large
end.
The egg measures 0·62 by 0·49.
374. Orthotomus sutorius (Forst.). Indian Tailor-bird
Orthotomus longicauda (Gm.), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 165; Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E. no. 530.
The Indian Tailor-bird breeds throughout India and Burma, alike in
the plains and in the hills up
to an elevation of from 3000 to 4000 feet.
The breeding-season lasts from May to August, both months included;
but in the plains more nests are to be found in July, and in the hills
more, I think, in June, than during the other months.
The nest has been often described and figured, and, as is well known,
is a deep soft cup enclosed in leaves, which the bird sews together to
form a receptacle for it.
It is placed at all elevations, and I have as often found it high upon
a mango-tree as low down amongst the leaves of the edible egg-plant (Solanum esculentum).
The nests vary much, in appearance, according to the number and
description of leaves which the bird employs and the manner in which
it employs them; but the nest itself is usually chiefly composed of
fine cotton-wool, with a few horsehairs and, at times, a few very fine
grass-stems as a lining, apparently to keep the wool in its place and
enable the cavity to retain permanently its shape.
I have found the nests with three leaves fastened, at equal distances
from each other, into the sides of the nest, and not joined to each
other at all.
I have found them between two leaves, the one forming a high back and
turned up at the end to support the bottom of the nest, the other
hiding the nest in front and hanging down well below it, the tip only
of the first leaf being sewn to the middle of the second. I have found
them with four leaves sewn together to form a canopy and sides, from
which the bottom of the nest depended bare; and I have found them
between two long leaves, whose sides from the very tips to near the
peduncles were closely and neatly sewn together. For sewing they
generally use cobweb; but silk from cocoons, thread, wool, and
vegetable fibres are also used.
The eggs vary from three to four in number; but I find that out of
twenty-seven nests containing more or less incubated eggs, of which
I have notes, exactly two thirds contained only three, and one third
four eggs.
About the colour of the eggs there has been some dispute, but this is
owing to the birds laying two distinct types of eggs, which will be
described below. Hutton's and Jerdon's descriptions of the eggs, white spotted with rufous or reddish brown, are quite correct, but
so are those of other writers, who call them bluish green, similarly
marked. Tickell, who gives them as "pale greenish blue, with irregular
patches, especially towards the larger end, resembling dried stains
of blood, and irregular and broken lines scratched round, forming
a zone near the larger end," had of course got hold of the eggs of a Franklinia. I have taken hundreds of both types, and I note that, as
in the case of Dicrurus ater, eggs of the two types are never found
in the same nest. All the eggs in each nest always belong to one or
the other type.
The parent birds that lay these very different looking eggs certainly
do not differ; that I have positively satisfied myself.
I quote an exact description of a nest which I took at Bareilly, and
which was recorded on the spot:
"Three of the long ovato-lanceolate leaves of the mango, whose
peduncles sprang from the same point, had been neatly drawn together
with gossamer threads run through the sides of the leaves and knotted
outside, so as to form a cavity like the end of a netted purse, with a
wide slit on the side nearest the trunk beginning near the bottom and
widening upwards. Inside this, the real nest, nearly 3 inches deep and
about 2 inches in diameter, was neatly constructed of wool and fine
vegetable fibres, the bottom being thinly lined with horsehair. In
this lay three tiny delicate bluish-white eggs, with a few pale
reddish-brown blotches at the large ends, and just a very few spots
and specks of the same colour elsewhere."
Dr. Jerdon says: "The Tailor-bird makes its nest with cotton, wool,
and various other soft materials, sometimes also lined with hair, and
draws together one leaf or more, generally two leaves, on each side
of the nest, and stitches them together with cotton, either woven
by itself, or cotton-thread picked up, and after passing the thread
through the leaf, it makes a knot at the end to fix it. I have seen
a Tailor-bird at Saugor watch till the native tailor had left the
verandah where he had been working, fly in, seize some pieces of the
thread that were lying about, and go off in triumph with them; this
was repeated in my presence several days running. I have known
many different trees selected to build in; in gardens very often a
guava-tree. The nest is generally built at from 2 to 4 feet above the
ground. The eggs are two, three, or four in number, and in every case
which I have seen were white spotted with reddish brown chiefly at the large
end... Layard describes one nest made of cocoanut-fibre
entirely, with a dozen leaves of oleander drawn and stitched together.
I cannot call to recollection ever having seen a nest made with more
than two leaves... Pennant gives the earliest, though somewhat
erroneous, account of the nest. He says: 'The bird picks up a dead
leaf and, surprising to relate, sews it to the side of a living one.'"
I have often seen nests made between many leaves, and I have seen
plenty with a dead leaf stitched to a yet living one; but in these
points my experience entirely coincides with that of Mr. A.
Anderson, whose note I proceed to quote:
"The dry leaves that are sometimes met with attached to the nest of
this species, and which gave rise to the erroneous idea that the bird
picks up a dead leaf and, surprising to relate, sews it to the side of
a living one, are easily accounted for.
"I took a nest of the Tailor-bird a short time ago" (11th July,
1871) from a brinjal plant (Solanum esculentum), which had all
the appearance of having had dry leaves attached to it. The nest
originally consisted of three leaves, but two of them had been
pierced (in the act of passing the thread through them) to excess, and
had in consequence not only decayed, but actually separated from the
stem of the plant. These decayed leaves were hanging from the side of
the nest by a mere thread, and could have been removed with perfect
safety. Perhaps instinct teaches the birds to injure certain leaves in
order that they may decay?
"Jerdon says that he does not remember ever having seen a nest made
with more than two leaves. I have found the nest of this species
vary considerably in appearance, size, and in the number of leaves
employed, and, I would also add, in the site selected, as well as in
the markings of the eggs, which latter never exceed four in number.
"The nest already described was built hardly 2 feet off the ground,
was rather clumsy and was
composed of three leaves. The eggs were white, covered with
brownish-pink blotches almost coalescing at the large end. Another
nest, taken in my presence (July, again, which is the general time)
from the very top of a high tree, was enclosed inside of one leaf,
the sides being neatly sewn together, and the cavity at the bottom
lined with wool, down, and horsehair. These eggs (four) are covered,
chiefly at the larger ends, with minute red spots.
"A third nest seen by me was composed of seven or eight leaves".
Captain Hutton tells us that he has seen many nests. All were
"composed of cotton, wool, vegetable fibre, and horsehair, formed in
the shape of a deep cup or purse, enclosed between two long leaves,
the edges of which were sewed to the sides of the nest, in a manner to
support it, by threads spun by the bird."
He adds that the birds, though common at their bases, do not ascend
the hills; but this is a mistake, for I have repeatedly taken nests
at elevations of over 3000 feet; and Mr. Gammie, writing from Sikkim,
says: "We often find nests of this species near my house at Mongphoo
(which is at an elevation of about 3500 feet). I took one there on the
16th May, which contained four hard-set eggs. It was in a calicarpa
tree and between two of its long ovate leaves, the terminal halves of
which were sewn together by the edges, so as to form a purse in which
the real nest was placed. Yellow silk of some wild silkworm was the
sewing material used."
Again, writing from the Nilgiris, Miss Cockburn remarks: "The
Tailor-bird is seldom met with on the highest ranges, but appears to
prefer the warmer climates enjoyed at the elevation of about 3500 or
4000 feet. They often build in the coffee-trees; a nest now before me
was built on a coffee-tree, two of the leaves of which were bent down
and sewn together. The threads are of cobweb, and the cavity is lined
with the down of seed-pods and fine grass. At the back of the nest the
leaves are made to meet, but are a little apart in front, so as to
form an opening for the birds to hop in and out. The depth of the nest
inside is 2½ inches. It was found in the month of June, and contained
four eggs, which were white spotted with light red."
Of its breeding in Nepal, Dr. Scully tells us: "It breeds freely in
the valley at an elevation of 4500 feet. I took many of its nests in
the Residency grounds, Rani Jangal, etc., in May, June, and July."
Major C. T. Bingham writes: "The Indian Tailor-bird breeds in April,
May, and June, both at Allahabad and at
Delhi. The nest formed of one,
two, and occasionally three, leaves neatly sewn so as to form a cone,
and lined with the down of the madar, is well known."
Colonel Butler has furnished me with the following note:
"The Tailor-bird breeds, I fancy, at least twice in the year, as I
have seen young birds early in the hot weather both at Mount Abu
and in Deesa, and I have also taken nests in the rains. The nest is
usually constructed with much skill and ingenuity. One nest which I
took on the 3rd September at Mount Abu consisted of three leaves
cleverly sewn together with raw cotton, leaving a moderate-sized
entrance on one side near the top, the inside being lined exclusively
with horsehair and fine dry fibres.
"I captured the hen bird with a horsehair noose fixed to the end of a
long thin rod as she left the nest. Another nest which I took in Deesa
on the 3rd September, 1876, was composed almost entirely of raw cotton
with a scanty lining of horsehairs and dry grass-stems. It was fixed
to the outside twigs of a lime-tree, two of the leaves of which were
sewn to it; two dead leaves were also attached to the nest, one being
sewn on each side as a support to the cotton. It was cup-shaped and
open at the top, much like a Chaffinch's nest."
Mr. Oates remarks: "This is a common bird in Burma in the plains, and
possibly also on the hills, though I did not observe it on the latter.
I found the nest of this species containing young birds in the
Thayetmyo cantonment on the 12th August. In the Pegu plains it appears
to nest from the middle of May to the end of August."
The eggs are typically long ovals, often tapering much towards the
small end. The shells are very thin, delicate, and semi-transparent,
and have but little gloss.
The ground-colour is either reddish white or pale bluish green. Of the
two types, the reddish white is the more common in the proportion
of two to one. The markings consist of bold blotchings or sometimes
ill-defined clouds (in this respect recalling the eggs of Prinia
inornata) chiefly confined to the large end; and specks, spots, and
splashes, extending more or less over the whole surface, typically of
a bright brownish red, varying, however, in different examples both
in shade and intensity. The markings have a strong tendency to form a
bold, irregular zone or cap at the large end, and in some specimens
the markings are entirely confined to this portion of the egg's
surface.
The eggs, which have a reddish-white ground, though smaller and of a much
more elongated shape, closely resemble those of Suya
fuliginosa.
In length the eggs vary from 0·6 to 0·7, and in breadth from 0·45 to
0·5; but the average of fifty eggs measured is 0·64 by 0·46.
375. Orthotomus atrigularis, Temm. Black-necked Tailor-bird
Orthotomus atrigularis, (Temm.), Hume, cat. no. 530 bis.
Mr. Mandelli sends me a nest which he assures me belongs to this
species, and the bird he sent me for identification certainly did so
belong. The nest was found near the great Ranjit River on the 18th
July, and then contained three fresh eggs. The nest, which is a
regular Tailor-bird's, composed entirely of the finest imaginable
panicle-stems of flowering grass, is a deep cup placed in between two
living leaves, which have been sewn together at the tips and along the
margins from the tip for about half their length, so as to provide a
perfect pocket in which the nest rests. The leaves of which the pocket
is composed were the terminal ones of the twigs of a sapling, and only
about 3 feet from the ground. The leaves are large oval ones, each
about 7 inches in length; they have been sewn together with wild
silk carefully knotted, exactly as is the practice of the common
Tailor-bird.
The eggs of this species are not separable from others of O.
sutorius, and though they may possibly average somewhat larger, I
have not seen enough of them to be able to make sure of this; and as
regards shape, colors, and markings the description given of the eggs of O. sutorius applies equally to eggs of this species.
380. Cisticola volitans, (Swinh.) Golden-headed Fantail-Warbler
This species was not known to Jerdon, nor was it known to occur in
Burma at the time that I issued my Catalogue. Mr. Oates, writing
of the breeding of this bird in Southern Pegu, where it is common,
says: "Breeding operations commence in the middle of May; on the 28th
of this month I found two nests, one containing four eggs slightly
incubated, and the other two, quite fresh.
"The nest is a small bag about 4 inches in height and 2 or 3 in
diameter, with an opening about an inch in diameter near the top. The
general shape of the nest is oval. It is composed entirely of the
white feathery flowers of the thatch-grass. The walls of the nest
are very thin but strong. The nest is placed about one foot from the
ground in a bunch of grass, and, in the two instances where I found
it, against a weed, with one or two leaves of which the materials of
the nest were slightly bound.
"The eggs are very glossy pale blue, spotted all over with large and
small blotches of rusty brown. I have no eggs of C. cursitans which
match them, in that species the spots being always minute and thickly
scattered over the shell, whereas in O. volitans the marks are large
and fewer in number. Six eggs measured in length from ·54 to ·57, and
in breadth from ·42 to ·43."
381. Cisticola cursitans (Frankl). Rufous Fantail-Warbler
Cisticola schoenicola, (Bp.), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 174; Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 539.
The Rufous Fantail-Warbler breeds pretty well all over India and
Ceylon, confining itself, as far as my experience goes, to the low
country, and never ascending the mountains to any great elevation.
The breeding-season lasts, according to locality, from April to
October, but it never breeds with us in dry weather, always laying
during rainy months. Very likely at the Nicobars, where it rains
pretty well all the year round, March being the only fairly dry month,
it may breed at all seasons.
I have myself taken several, and have had a great many nests sent to
me. With rare exceptions all belonged to one type. The bird selects a
patch of dense fine-stemmed grass, from 18 inches to 2 feet in height,
and, as a rule, standing in a moist place; in this, at the height of
from 6 to 8 inches from the ground, the nest is constructed; the sides
are formed by the blades and stems of the grass, in situ, closely
tacked and caught together with cobwebs and very fine silky vegetable
fibre. This is done for a length of from 2 to nearly 3 inches, and,
as it were, a narrow tube, from 1 to 1·5 in diameter, formed in the
grass. To this a bottom, from 4 to 6 inches above the surface of the
ground, is added, a few of the blades of the grass being bent across,
tacked and woven together with cobwebs and fine vegetable fibre. The
whole interior is then closely felted with silky down, in Upper India
usually that of the mudar (Calotropis hamiltoni). The nest thus
constructed forms a deep and narrow purse, about 3 inches in depth,
an inch in diameter at top, and 1·5 at the broadest part below. The
tacking together of the stems of the grass is commonly continued a
good deal higher up on one side than on the other, and it is through
or between the untacked stems opposite to this that the tiny entrance
exists. Of course above the nest the stems and blades of the grass,
meeting together, completely hide it. The dimensions above given are
those of the interior of the nest; its exterior dimensions cannot be
given. The bird tacks together not merely the few stems absolutely
necessary to form a side to the nest, but most of the stems all
round, decreasing the extent of attachment as they recede from the
nest-cavity. It does this, too, very irregularly; on one side of the
nest perhaps no stem more than an inch distant from the interior
surface of the nest will be found in any way bound up in the fabric,
while on the opposite side perhaps stems fully 3 inches distant,
together with all the intermediate ones, will be found more or less
webbed together. Occasionally, but rarely, I have found a nest of a
different type. Of these one was built amongst the stems of a common
prickly labiate marsh-plant which has white and mauve flowers. There
was a straggling framework of fine grass, firmly netted together with
cobwebs, and a very scanty lining of down. The nest was egg-shaped,
and the aperture on one side near the top. Mr. Brooks, I believe, once
obtained a similar one; but the vast majority of the others that any
of us have ever got have been of the type first described, which
corresponds closely with Passler's account.
Five is the usual complement of eggs; at any rate I have notes of more
than a dozen nests that contained this number, and in more than half
the cases the eggs were partly incubated. I have no record of more
than five, and though I have any number of notes of nests containing
one, two, three, and four eggs, yet these latter in almost all these
cases were fresh.
Mr. Blyth says that this species is "remarkable for the beautiful
construction of its nest, sewing together a number of growing stems
and leaves of grass, with a delicate pappus which forms also the
lining, and laying four or five translucent white eggs, with
reddish-brown spots, more numerous and forming a ring at the large
end, very like those of Orthotomus sutorius. It abounds in suitable
localities throughout the country."
I must here note that Mr. Blyth never paid special attention to eggs,
or he would have hardly said this, because the character of the
markings are essentially different. Those of the Tailor-bird are
typically blotchy, of the present species speckly.
Colonel Legge writes to me from Ceylon that "in the Western
Province it breeds from May until September, and constructs its nest
either in paddy-fields or in guinea-grass plots attached to bungalows."
The nest is so beautiful and so neatly constructed that perhaps a
short description of it will not be out of place. A framework of
cotton or other fibrous material is formed round two or three upright
stalks, about 2 feet from the ground, the material being sewn into the
grass and passed from one stalk to the other until a complete net
is made. This takes the bird from one to two days to construct*.
Several blades, belonging to the stalks round which the cotton is
passed, are then bent down and interlaced across to form a bottom
on which, and inside the cotton network, a neat little nest of fine
strips of grass torn off from the blade is built; this is most
beautifully lined with cotton or other downy substance, which appears
to be plastered with the saliva of the bird, until it takes the
appearance and texture of soft felt.
*[Footnote A: Numbers of these birds used to build in a guinea-grass
field attached to my bungalow at Colombo, and I had full opportunity
of watching the construction of the nest on many occasions.--W.V.L.]
"The average dimensions of the interior or cup are 2 inches in depth
by 1¼ in breadth. The whole structure is generally completed in about
five days, and the first egg laid on the fifth or sixth day from the
commencement. The number of eggs varies from two to four, most nests
containing three. The time of incubation is, as a rule, from nine to
eleven days.
"I have found but little variation in the eggs of this species either
as regards size or colour. They are white or pale greenish white,
spotted and blotched in a zone round the larger end with red and
reddish grey, a few spots extending towards the point: axis 0·63 inch;
diameter 0·51 inch. From close observation I can certify that this and many other small
birds do not here sit during the daytime. I scarcely ever found a Cisticola on the nest between sunrise and sunset,"
Colonel E. A. Butler writing from Deesa says: "The Rufous
Fantail-Warbler breeds in the plains during the monsoon, making a long
bottle-shaped nest of silky-white vegetable down, with an entrance at
the top, in a tuft of coarse grass a few inches from the ground. I
have taken nests on the following dates:
"July 29, 1875. A nest containing 4 fresh eggs.
Aug. 1, 1876. " " 5 fresh eggs.
Aug. 5, 1876. " " 4 fresh eggs.
Aug. 5, 1876. " " 3 fresh eggs.
Aug. 5, 1876. " " 4 fresh eggs.
Aug. 5, 1876. " " 5 fresh eggs.
Aug. 7, 1876. " " 5 fresh eggs.
Aug. 8, 1876. " " 4 fresh eggs."
And he adds the following note: "Belgaum, 22nd July, 1879. Four fresh
eggs. Same locality, numerous other nests in August and September."
Major C. T. Bingham notes: "I have not yet observed this bird at
Delhi. At Allahabad I procured one nest in the beginning of March,
shooting the birds. The nest was made of very fine dry grass, and
contained four small white eggs, speckled thickly with minute points
of brick-red. The average of the four eggs is 0·60 by 0·41 inch."
Mr. Cripps informs us that in Eastern Bengal this bird is very common
and a permanent resident. Eggs are found from the beginning of May to
the end of June, in grass-jungle almost on the ground. The nest is a
deep cup, externally of fine grasses, internally of the downy tops of
the sun-grass.
In the Deccan, Messrs. Davidson and Wenden state that it is "common in
all grass-lands. It breeds in the rainy season."
Mr. Oates, writing on the breeding of this bird in Pegu, says: "The
majority of birds begin laying at the commencement of June, and
probably nests may be found throughout the rains. I procured a nest
on the 2nd of November, a very late date I imagine. It contained four
eggs."
I have taken the eggs of this bird myself on many occasions. I have
had them sent me with the nest and bird by Mr. Brooks from Etawah, and
Mr. F. R. Blewitt from Jhansi. From first to last I have seen fully
fifty authentic eggs of this species. All were of one and the same
type, and that type widely different from any one of those that Dr.
Bree, following European ornithologists, figures. Dr. Bree's three
figures all represent a perfectly spotless egg - one pink, the other
bluish white, and the third a pretty dark bluish green. Our eggs, on
the contrary, are spotted; the ground is white with, when fresh and
unblown, a delicate pink hue, due not to the shell itself, but to its
contents, which partially show through it. Occasionally the white
ground has a faint greenish tinge.
Every egg is spotted, and most densely so towards the large end,
with, as a rule, excessively minute red, reddish-purple, and pale
purple specks, thus resembling, though smaller, more glossy, and far less
densely speckled, the eggs of Franklinia buchanani. These are
beyond all question the eggs of our Indian species, and the only type
of them that I have yet observed; but the question remains - Is our Indian Prinia cursitans,
(Franklin), really identical with the European C. schoenicola, (Bonaparte)?* - and this can only be
settled by careful comparison of an enormous series of good specimens
of each bird. For my part I personally have little doubts as to the
identity of the two. At the same time differences in the eggs may indicate
difference of species. Thus of the closely allied C.
volitans, Swinhoe, the latter gentleman informs us that "the eggs of
our bird vary from three to five, are thin and fragile, and of a pale
clear greenish blue"**. He called it C. schoenicola when he wrote,
but he really referred to the Formosan bird, which he has since
separated.
*[The Indian and European birds are now generally allowed
to be perfectly identical, notwithstanding the alleged difference
in the colour of the eggs; and Mr. Hume is now, I think, of this
opinion.--ED.]
**[But C. volitans, or the closely allied race which
occurs in Pegu, assuredly lays spotted eggs. I found two nests of this
bird, both with spotted eggs vide (p. 236).--ED.]
The eggs of course vary somewhat. Of one nest I wrote at the time I
found it "The eggs are a rather short oval, slightly pointed at one
end, with a white ground, thickly sprinkled with numerous specks and
tiny spots of pale brownish red. They measured ·58 by ·46." Of
another I say "The ground had a faint pearly tinge, and there was a
well-marked, though, irregular and ill-defined, zone towards the large
end, formed by the agglomeration there of multitudinous specks, which
in places were almost confluent." Of another set "The eggs were much
glossier and had a china-white ground; but instead of a multitude
of small specks over the whole surface, they had nearly the whole coloring-matter gathered together at the large end in a cap of bold,
almost maroon-red spots, only a very few spots of the same colour
being scattered over the rest of the egg."
The eggs measure from ·53 to ·62 in length, and from ·43 to ·48 in
breadth; but the average dimensions of a large number measured were
·59 by ·46.
382. Franklinia gracilis (Frankl.). Franklin's Wren-Warbler
Prinia gracilis, (Frankl.) Jerdon B. Ind. ii. p. 172; Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E. no. 536.
Prinia hodgsoni, (Blyth), Jerdon t.c. p. 173; Hume, t.c. no. 538.
I have never myself succeeded in finding a nest of Franklin's
Wren-Warbler, but my friend Mr. F. R. Blewitt has sent me no less than
forty nests and eggs, with the parents; so that, although the eggs
belong to two, I might even say three, very different types, I
entertain no doubt that he is correct in assigning them to the same
species, the more so as, although the eggs vary, the nests are
identical. He has sent me several notes in regard to this species.
He says: "On the 1st July, three miles south of the village of
Doongurgurh in the Raipoor District, I found a nest of Franklin's
Wren-Warbler, containing three fresh eggs. It was on rocky ground
between a footpath and a water-course, about 2 feet from the ground,
and firmly sewn to a single leaf of a murori plant. The nest was
constructed exclusively of very fine grass, with spiders' web affixed
in places to the exterior. It was somewhat cup-shaped, 3·3 inches in
depth and 2·4 in breadth externally. The egg-cavity was about 1·4 in
diameter, and about the same depth. The eggs were a delicate pale
unspotted blue.
"About 100 yards from the first, a second precisely similar, and
similarly situated, nest of this same species was found, which
contained three hard-set eggs, exactly similar in shape, texture, and
ground-colour to those in the first nest, but everywhere excessively
finely and thickly speckled with red, the specks exhibiting a strong
tendency to coalesce in a zone round the large end.
"On the 12th and 13th July we obtained ten nests of Franklin's
Wren-Warbler, all in the neighborhood of Doongurgurh. From what I
have seen, I gather that this species breeds from the middle of June
to the middle of August in this part of the country. They appear to
resort to tracts at some little elevation, where the murori and kydia
bushes are abundant, and where grass grows rapidly in the early part
of the rains. The nests, very ingeniously made, are invariably sewn to
one or two leaves in the centre of one of the above-named bushes, the
entrance above, just as in the nest of an Orthotomus. They are
placed at heights of from a foot to 3 feet from the ground. Fine
grass, vegetable fibres, and other soft materials are chiefly used in
their construction, a little cobweb being often added. The eggs are
laid daily, and four is the normal number, though three hard-set ones
are sometimes found. The nest is prepared annually. As far as I know
they have only one brood. Both parents unite in building the nest and
in hatching and feeding the young.
"Of the ten nests now taken four contained speckled and six unspeckled
eggs. The two types are never found in the same nest. I send all the
nests, eggs, and birds."
Dr. Jerdon says: "I found the nest of this species at Saugor, very
like that of the Tailor-bird but smaller, made of cotton, wool, and
various soft vegetable fibres, and occasionally bits of cloth, and I
invariably found it sewn to one leaf of the kydia, so common in the
jungles there. The eggs were pale blue, with some brown or reddish
spots often rarely visible."
Colonel E. A. Butler writes from Deesa:
"July 26, 1876. A nest containing 3 fresh eggs.
Aug. 1, 1876. " " 4 fresh eggs.
Aug. 15, 1876. " " 2 fresh eggs.
Sept. 3, 1876. " " 4 incubated eggs.
"All of the above nests were exactly alike, being composed of fine dry
grass without any lining, felted here and there exteriorly with small
lumps of woolly vegetable down, and built between two leaves carefully sewn
to the nest in the same way as the nests of Orthotomus
sutorius. The eggs, three or four in number, are white, sparingly
speckled with light reddish chestnut, with a cap more or less dense
of the same markings at the large end. All of the eggs in the
above-mentioned nests were of this type. I found the nests in a
grass Beerh near Deesa, studded over with low ber bushes (Zizyphus
jujuba), generally about 2 or 3 feet from the ground, and in similar
situations to those selected by Prinia socialis, often amongst dry
nullahs overgrown with low bushes and long grass."
Mr. Vidal notes in his list of the Birds of the South Konkan: "Common
in mangrove-swamps, reeds, hedgerows, thickets, and bush-jungle
throughout the district. Breeds during the rainy months."
Mr. Oates writes from Pegu: "Nest with three fresh eggs on the 19th
August; no details appear necessary except the colour of the eggs,
since this bird appears to lay two kinds of eggs. My eggs are very
glossy, of a light blue speckled with minute dots of reddish brown,
more thickly so at the large end than elsewhere."
The nests sent by Mr. Blewitt are regular Tailor-birds' nests,
composed chiefly of very fine grass, about the thickness of fine human
hair, with no special lining, carefully sewn with cobwebs, silk from
cocoons, or wool, into one or two leaves, which often completely
envelop it, so as to leave no portion of the true nest visible.
The eggs belong to at least two very distinct types. Both are
typically rather slender ovals, a good deal compressed towards one
end; but in both somewhat broader and more or less pyriform varieties
occur. In both the shell is exquisitely fine and glossy; in some
specimens it is excessively glossy. In both the ground-colour is a
very delicate pale greenish blue, occasionally so pale that
the ground is all but white - in one type entirely unspeckled and
unspotted, in the other finely and thickly speckled everywhere, and
towards the large end more or less spotted, with brownish or purplish
red. The markings are densest towards the large end, where they either
actually form, or exhibit a strong tendency to form, a more or less
conspicuous speckled, semi-confluent zone.
Out of fifty-six eggs, twenty-one belong to the latter type. As in Dicrurus ater, the two types never appear to be found in the same
nest; but the nests in which the two types are found are precisely
similar, and the parent birds are identical.
In length the eggs vary from 0·53 to 0·62, and in width from 0·4 to
0·45; but the average of fifty-six eggs is 0·58 by 0·42. There is no
difference whatever in the size of the two types.
383. Franklinia rufescens (Blyth). Beavan's Wren-Warbler
Prinia beavani, (Wald.), Hume, cat. no. 538 bis.
Mr. Oates, who found the nest of this Warbler in Pegu, says: "June
29th. Found a nest sewn into a broad soft leaf of a weed in forest
about 2 feet from the ground. The edges of the leaf are drawn together
and fastened by white vegetable fibres. The nest is composed entirely
of fine grass, no other material entering into its composition. For
further security the nest is stitched to the leaves in a few places;
the depth of the nest is about 3 inches, and internal diameter all the
way down about 1½. Eggs three, very glossy, pale blue, with specks and
dashes of pale reddish brown, chiefly at the larger end, where they
form a cap. Size ·58, ·62, ·61, by ·47."
Mr. Mandelli sends me a regular Tailor-bird's nest as that of this
species. It was found below Yendong in Native Sikkim on the 1st May,
and contained three fresh eggs. The nest itself is a beautiful
little cup, composed of silky vegetable down and excessively fine
grass-stems, and a very little black hair firmly felted together, and
is placed between two living leaves of a sapling neatly sewn together
at the margins with bright yellow silk.
The eggs are rather elongated, very regular ovals. The shell stout for
the size of the egg, but very fine and compact, and with a moderate
gloss. The ground-colour is a very delicate pale greenish blue. At or
round the larger end there is very generally a mottled cap or zone
(more commonly the latter) of duller or brighter brownish red, while
irregular blotches, streaks, spots, and specks of the same colour, but
usually a slightly paler shade, are more or less sparsely scattered
over the rest of the surface of the egg, sometimes they are almost
wholly wanting. Occasionally the zone is at the small end.
The eggs measure from 0·60 to 0·62 in length, by 0·43 to 0·48 in
breadth; but the average of six eggs is 0·61 by 0·45.
384. Franklinia buchanani (Blyth). Rufous-fronted
Wren-Warbler
Franklinia buchanani (Blyth), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 186; Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 551.
The Rufous-fronted Wren-Warbler breeds throughout Central India,
the Central Provinces, the North-western Provinces, the Punjab, and
Rajpootana. It affects chiefly the drier and warmer tracts, and,
though said to have been obtained in the Nepal Terai, has never been
met with by me either there or in any very moist, swampy locality.
The breeding-season extends from the end of May until the beginning of
September.
The nests, according to my experience, are always placed at heights of
from a foot to 4 feet from the ground, in low scrub-jungle or bushes.
They vary greatly in size and shape, according to position. Some are
oblate spheroids with the aperture near the top, some are purse-like
and suspended, and some are regular cups. One of the former
description measured externally 5 inches in diameter one way by 3¼
inches the other. One of the suspended nests was 7 inches long by 3
wide, and one of the cup-shaped nests was nearly 4 inches in diameter
and stood, perhaps, at most 2½ inches high. The egg-cavity in the
different nests varies from 1¾ to 2¼ inches in diameter, and from less
than 2 to fully 3 inches in depth. Externally the nest is very loosely
and, generally, raggedly constructed of very fine grass-stems and
tow-like vegetable fibre used in different proportions in different
nests; those in which grass is chiefly used being most ragged and
straggling, and those in which most vegetable fibre has been made use
of being neatest and most compact. In all the nests that I have seen
the egg-cavity has been lined with something very soft. In many of the
nests the lining is composed of small felt-like pieces of some dull
salmon-colored fungus, with which the whole interior is closely
plastered; in others there is a dense lining of soft silky vegetable
down; and in others the down and fungus are mingled. They lay from
four to five eggs, never more than this latter number according to my
experience.
"At the end of June 1867," writes Mr. Brooks, "I took two nests of
this bird at Chunar in low ber bushes about 2 feet from the ground.
They were little spheres of fine grass with a hole at the side. One
contained four eggs; these were of a greyish-white ground or nearly
pure white, finely speckled over with reddish brown, some of the eggs
exhibiting a tendency to form a zone round the large end, and others
with a complete zone."
"At Sambhur," Mr. Adam says, "this Wren-Warbler is always found
wherever there are low bushes. It breeds just before the rains, but I
have not recorded the date. I had a nest with the bird and five eggs
sent to me. The eggs are pale bluish white, with reddish-brown spots
and freckles all over them."
"During July, August, and the early part of September," remarks Mr. W
Blewitt, "I found a great number of the nests and eggs of this bird in
the jungle-preserves of Hansi and its neighborhood. The nests, of
which I have already sent you several, were mostly in ber (Zizyphus
jujuba) and hinse (Capparis aphylla) bushes, at heights of from 3
to 4 feet from the ground. Five was the largest number of eggs that I
found in any one nest."
Major C. T. Bingham remarks: "I found several nests of this bird in
the beginning of October at Delhi in the jherberry bushes so plentiful on the
Ridge. Both nests and eggs are very like those of Cisticola
cursitans before described; the only difference I could find was that the
entrance in the nest of C. cursitans that I found was at the top, and
in all the nests of F. buchanani at the side rather low
down; the nests of the latter are also firmer and more globular in
shape. The eggs are, to my eye, identical in colour and form."
Mr. G. Reid informs us that at Lucknow it is fairly common and a
permanent resident. It makes an oblong, loosely constructed nest with
the aperture near the top, and lays three or four white eggs minutely
spotted with dingy red.
Mr. J. Davidson writes that in Western Khandeish this Warbler is the
commonest bird, breeding about Dhulia in July, August, and September.
Colonel E. A. Butler writes: "I found a nest of the Rufous-fronted
Wren-Warbler at Deesa on the 27th July, 1875. It was in a grass beerh,
and placed in a heap of dead thorns overgrown with grass and about a
foot from the ground. It was composed externally of dry grass-stems, with
lumps of silky white vegetable down (Calotropis) scattered
sparingly over the whole nest. The lining consisted of very fine
dry grass neatly put together and felted with silky down, and a
considerable amount of the dull salmon-colored fungus or lichen
referred to in the 'Rough Draft of Nests and Eggs,' p. 359. In shape
the nest is nearly spherical, being slightly oval however, with a
small aperture near the top. The entrance was 1½ inches in diameter,
and the nest itself roughly measured from the outside 4½ inches in
length and 4 in width. The eggs, usually four in number, are white,
closely speckled over with pale rusty red, intermingled with a few
pale washed-out inky markings, in some cases at the large end, which
is surrounded by a zone clear and well-marked in some instances, less
distinct in others. I found other nests in the same neighborhood as
below:--
"Aug. 24, 1875. A nest containing 4 fresh eggs.
July 20, 1876. " " 4 " "
July 28, " " " 4 young birds.
Aug. 4, " " " 4 fresh eggs.
Aug. 5, " " " 4 " "
Aug. 5, " " " 4 " "
Aug. 5, " " " 5 " "
Aug. 8, " " " 5 " "
Aug. 14, " " " 5 " "
"In every one of the above instances the nest was exactly similar to
the one I have described, and built in the same kind of situation,
i.e. in heaps of dead thorns overgrown with long grass. The eggs are
all much the same, the spots being larger in some than in others and
more numerous in some cases than in others. In one set I have the
ground is very pale bluish white (skimmed milk) instead of being pure white.
As a rule the eggs are almost exactly like the eggs of C.
cursitans, and if mixed I doubt very much if any person could
separate them. On examining the salmon-colored fungus-lining it
appears to me to be nothing more nor less than small pieces of dried
ber leaves, and I have never examined a nest without finding some of
this material at the bottom of it."
"The Rufous-fronted Wren-Warbler," writes Lieut. Barnes, "breeds in
Rajpootana during July, August, and the early part of September. The
nest, composed of grass, is loosely constructed, and placed in low
bushes or scrub."
The eggs vary somewhat in size and shape; a moderately broad oval,
slightly compressed towards the larger end, being, however, the
commonest type. Examining a large series, it appears that variations
from this type are more commonly of an elongated than a spherical
form. The eggs are of the same character as those of Cisticola
cursitans but yet differ somewhat. The eggs are many
of them fairly glossy, the shells very delicate and fragile; the
ground-colour white, usually slightly greyish, but in some specimens
faintly tinged with very pale green or pink. Typically they are very
thickly and very finely speckled all over with somewhat dingy red or
purplish red. In three out of four eggs the markings are densest and
largest towards the large end; and, to judge from the large series
before me, at least one in four exhibits a more or less well-defined
mottled zone or cap at this end, formed by the partial confluence of
multitudinous specks.
In some specimens the markings are pale inky purple, and in some
slightly purplish brown, but these are abnormal varieties. In one or
two eggs fairly-sized spots and blotches are intermingled with the
minute specklings, but this also is rare. Of course in different
specimens the density of the speckling varies greatly: in some eggs
not a fifth of the surface is covered with the markings, while in some
it appears as if there were more of these than of the ground-colour.
In length the eggs vary from 0·55 to 0·66, and in breadth from 0·43 to
0·52; but the average of eighty-seven eggs is 0·62 by 0·48.
385. Franklinia cinereicapilla (Hodgs.). Hodgson's Wren-Warbler
Prinia cinereocapilla, (Hodgson), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 172; Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E. no. 537.
Captain Hutton says*: "In this species the structure of the nest is
somewhat coarser than in P. stewarti, and it is more loosely put
together, but like that species it is also a true Tailor-bird.
*[I reproduce this note as it appeared in the 'Rough
Draft,' but I have no faith in the identification of this rare bird by
Capt Hutton. Mr. Hume is apparently of the same opinion, as he does
not quote the Dhoon as one of the localities in which, this species
occurs (S.F. ix, p. 286). It may be well, however, to point out that
Mr. Brooks procured this species at Dhunda, in the Bhagirati valley,
so that it is not unlikely to occur in the Dhoon.--ED.]
"In the specimen before me two large leaves are stitched together at
the edges, and between these rests the cup-shaped nest composed of
grass-stalks and fine roots, as in P. stewarti, and without any
lining, while, being more completely surrounded by or enfolded in the
leaves, the cottony seed-down which binds together the fibres in the
others is here dispensed with.
"The eggs were three in number, of a pale bluish hue, irrorated with
specks of rufous-brown, and chiefly so at the larger end, where they
form an ill-defined ring. The eggs measured 0·62 by 0·44.
"The nest was found hanging on a large-leafed annual shrub growing in
the Dhoon, and was placed about 2 feet from the ground. It was taken on 22nd July."
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