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389. Megalurus palustris, Horsf. Striated Marsh-Warbler
Megalurus palustris, (Horsf.), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 70; Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 440.
Nothing has hitherto been recorded of the nidification of the Striated
Marsh-Warbler, although it has a very wide distribution and is very
common in suitable localities.
The Striated Marsh-Babbler, as Jerdon calls it, has nothing of the
Babbler in it. It rises perpendicularly out of the reeds, sings rather
screechingly while in the air, and descends suddenly. It has much more
of a song than any of the Babblers, a much stronger flight, and its
sudden, upward, towering flight and equally sudden descent are unlike
anything seen amongst the Babblers.
Mr. E. C. Nunn procured the nest and an egg of this species (which
along with the parent birds he kindly forwarded to me) at Hoshungabad
on the 4th May, 1868. The nest was round, composed of dry grass, and
situated in a cluster of reeds between two rocks in the bed of the
Nerbudda (Narmada?). It contained a single fresh egg.
Writing from Wau, in the Pegu District, Mr. Oates remarks: "I found
a nest on the 19th May containing four eggs recently laid. The female
flew off only at the last moment, when my pony was about to tread on
the tuft of grass she had selected for her home.
"The nest was placed in a small but very dense grass-tuft about a
foot above the ground. It was made entirely of coarse grasses, and
assimilated well with the dry and entangled stems among which it lay.
The nest was very deep and purse-shaped. It was about 8 inches in
total height at the back, and some 2 inches lower in front, the upper
part of the purse being as it were cut off slantingly, and thus
leaving an entrance which was more or less circular. The width is 6½
inches, and the breadth from front to back 4 inches. The interior is
smooth, lined with somewhat finer grass, and measures 4 inches in
depth by 3 inches from side to side, and by 2 inches from front to
back.
"Megalurus palustris is very common throughout the large plains
lying between the Pegu and Sittang Rivers. At the end of May they were
all breeding. The nest is, however, difficult to find, owing to the
vast extent of favorable ground suited to its habits. Every yard of
the land produces a clump of grass likely enough to hold a nest, and
as the female sits still till the nest is actually touched, it becomes
a difficult and laborious task to find the nest."
He subsequently remarks: "May seems to be the month in which these
birds lay here. The nest is very often placed on the ground under the
shelter of some grass-tuft."
Mr. Cockburn writes to me: "I found a nest of this bird on the north
bank of the Brahmaputra, near Sadija. One of the birds darted off the
nest a foot or two from me in an excited way, which led me to search.
The nest was almost a perfect oval, with a slice taken off at the top
on one side, built in a clump of grass, and only 9 or 10 inches from
the ground. It was made of sarpat-grass, and lined internally with
finer grasses. The grass had a bleached and washed-out appearance,
while the clump was quite green. This was on the 29th May. I noticed
at the same time that the nest was not interwoven with the living
grass. I removed it easily with the hand."
Mr. Cripps says: "They breed in April and May in the Dibrugarh
district, placing their deep cup-shaped nests in tussocks of grass
wherever it is swampy, in some instances the bottoms of the nests
being wet. Four seems to be the greatest number of eggs in a nest."
The eggs are much the same shape and size as those of Acrocephalus
stentoreus. They have a dead-white ground, thickly speckled and
spotted with blackish and purplish brown, and have but a slight gloss;
the speckling, everywhere thick, is generally densest at the large
end, and there chiefly do spots, as big as an ordinary pin's head,
occur. At the large end, besides these specklings, there is a cloudy,
dull, irregular cap, or else isolated patches, of very pale inky
purple, which more or less obscure the ground-colour. In the peculiar
speckly character of the markings these eggs recall doubtless some
specimens of the eggs of the different Bulbuls, but their natural affinities
seem to be with those of the Acrocephalinae.
The eggs vary from 0·8 to 0·97 in length, and from 0·61 to 0·69 in
breadth; but the average of twelve eggs is 0·85 by 0·64.
390. Schoenicola platyura (Jerdon). Broad-tailed Grass-Warbler
Schoenicola platyura (Jerdon), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 73.
Colonel E. A. Butler discovered the nest of the Broad-tailed
Grass-Warbler at Belgaum. He writes:
"On the 1st September, 1880, I shot a pair of these birds as they rose
out of some long grass by the side of a rice-field; and, thinking
there might be a nest, I commenced a diligent search, which resulted
in my finding one. It consisted of a good-sized ball of coarse blades
of dry grass, with an entrance on one side, and was built in long
grass about a foot from the ground. Though it was apparently finished,
there were unfortunately no eggs, but dissection of the hen proved
that she would have laid in a day or two. On the 10th instant I found
another nest exactly similar, built in a tussock of coarse grass, near
the same place; but this was subsequently deserted without the bird
laying. On the 19th September I went in the early morning to the same
patch of grass and watched another pair, soon seeing the hen disappear
amongst some thick tussocks. On my approaching the spot she flew off
the nest, which contained four eggs much incubated. The nest was
precisely similar to the others, but with the entrance-hole perhaps
rather nearer the top, though still on one side. The situation in the
grass was the same - in fact it was very similar in every respect to the nest
of Drymoeca insignis. The eggs are very like those of Molpastes haemorrhous, but smaller, having a purplish-white ground,
sprinkled all over with numerous small specks and spots of purple and
purplish brown, with a cap of the same at the large end, underlaid
with inky lilac.
"These birds closely resemble Chaetornis striatus in their actions
and habits, and in the breeding-season rise constantly into the air,
chirruping like that species, and descending afterwards in the same
way on to some low bush or tussock of grass, sometimes even on to
the telegraph-wires. They are fearful little skulks, however, if you
attempt to pursue them, and the moment you approach disappear into the
grass like a shot, from whence it is almost impossible to flush them
again unless you all but tread on them. It is perfectly marvelous the
way they will hide themselves in a patch of grass when they have once
taken refuge in it; and although you may know within a yard or two of
where the bird is, you may search for half an hour without finding it.
If you shoot at them and miss, they drop to the shot into the grass as
if killed, and nothing will dissuade you from the belief that they are
so until, after a long search, the little beast gets up exactly where
you have been hunting all along, from almost under your feet, and
darts off to disappear, after another short flight of fifteen or
twenty yards, in another patch of grass, from whence you may again try
in vain to dislodge it."
The eggs of this species, though much smaller, are precisely of the same type
as those of Megalurus palustris and Chaetornis striatus;
moderately broad ovals with a very fine compact shell, with but little
gloss, though perhaps rather more of this than in either of the
species above referred to. The ground-colour is white, with perhaps
a faint pinkish shade, and it is profusely speckled and spotted with
brownish red, almost black in some spots, more chestnut in others.
Here and there a few larger spots or small irregular blotches occur.
Besides these markings, clouds, streaks, and tiny spots of grey or
lavender-grey occur, chiefly about the large end, where, with the
markings (often more numerous there than elsewhere), they form at
times a more or less confluent but irregular and ill-defined cap.
One egg measured 0·73 by 0·6.
391. Acanthoptila nepalensis (Hodgson). Spiny Warbler
Acanthoptila nipalensis (Hodgson), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p 57.
Acanthoptila pellotis, (Hodgson), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E.
no. 431 bis.
According to Mr. Hodgson's notes and figures, this species builds, in
a fork of a tree, a very loose, shallow grass nest. One is recorded
to have measured 4·87 in diameter and 1·75 in height externally,
and internally 3·37 in diameter and an inch in depth. The eggs are
verditer-blue, and are figured as 1·1 by 0·65.
I may here note that Acanthoptila pellotis and A. leucotis are
totally distinct, as Mr. Hodgson's figures clearly show. Hodgson published A. leucotis
apparently under the name of A. nipalensis, so that the two will stand
as A. pellotis and A. nipalensis.*
*[I do not agree with. Mr. Hume on this point. It seems
to me that this bird has both a summer and a winter plumage, and
Hodgson's two names refer to one and the same bird.--ED.]
392. Chaetornis locustelloides (Blyth). Bristled Grass-Warbler
Chaetornis striatus (Jerdon), Jerdon. B. Ind. ii. p. 72; Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 441.
Dr. Jerdon remarks that Mr. Blyth mentions that the nest of
the Grass-Babbler, as he calls it, nearly accords with that of Malacocercus, and that the eggs are blue.
I cannot find the passage in which Blyth states this, and I cannot
help doubting its correctness. This bird, like the preceding, is not
a bit of a Babbler. I have often watched them in Lower Bengal amongst
comparatively low grass and rush along the margins of ponds and
jheels, not, as a rule, affecting high reed or seeking to conceal
themselves, but showing themselves freely enough, and with a song and
flight wholly unlike that of any Babbler.
They are very restless, soaring about and singing a monotonous song of
two notes, somewhat resembling that of a Pipit, but clear and loud.
They do not soar in one spot like a Sky-Lark, as Jerdon says, but rise
to the height of from 30 to 50 yards, fly rapidly right and left, over
perhaps one fourth of a mile, and then suddenly drop on to the top of
some little bush or other convenient post, and there continue their
song.
Mr. Brooks remarks: "On the 28th August, 1869, I observed at the side
of the railway, at Jheenjuck Jheel, on the borders of the Etawah and Kanpur
Districts, several pairs of Chaetornis. A good part of the
jheel was covered with grass about 18 inches high, and to this they
appeared partial, though occasionally I found them among the long
reeds. The part of the jheel where they were found was drier than the
rest, there being only about an inch of water in places, while other
portions were quite dry.
"I noticed the bird singing while seated on a bush or large clump of
grass, and sometimes it perched on the telegraph-wires alongside of
the line of railway, continuing its song while perched. By habits and song it seems more nearly allied to the Pipits than the
Babblers. Males shot early in September were obviously breeding, and
a female shot on the 13th of that month contained a nearly full-sized
egg."
It does not do to be too positive, but I should be inclined to believe
that the eggs are not uniform colored, blue and glossy like a
Babbler's, but dull, dead, or greenish white, with numerous small
specks and spots*.
*[The discovery of this bird's eggs has proved Mr. Hume to
be right in his conjecture.--ED.]
Colonel E. A. Butler, who was the first to discover the eggs of the
Bristled Grass-Warbler, writes:
"The Grass-Babbler is not uncommon about Deesa in the rains, at which
season it breeds. I found a nest containing four eggs on the 18th
August, 1876. It consisted of a round ball of dry grass with a
circular entrance on one side, near the top, was placed on the ground
in the centre of a low scrubby bush in a grass Bheerh, and when the
hen-bird flew off, which was not until I almost put my foot on the
nest, I mistook her for Argya caudata. On looking, however, into the
bush, I saw at once by the eggs that it was a species new to me. I
left the spot and returned again in about an hour's time, when, to my
disappointment, I found that three of the eggs had hatched. The fourth
egg being stale, I took it and added it to my collection. The eggs are about
the size of the eggs of A. caudata, but in colour very like those of
Franklinia buchanani, namely, white, speckled all over with
reddish brown and pale lavender, most densely at the large end. This
bird has a peculiar habit in the breeding-season of rising suddenly
into the air and soaring about, often for a considerable distance,
uttering a loud note resembling the words 'chirrup, chirrup-chirrup,'
repeated all the time the bird is in the air, and then suddenly
descending slowly into the grass with outspread wings, much in the style of
Mirafra erythroptera. This bird is so similar in appearance, when
flying and hopping about in the long grass, to A.
caudata, that I have no doubt it is often mistaken for that species.
I have invariably found it during the rains in grass Bheerhs overgrown with
low thorny bushes (Zizyphus jujuba, etc.). Whether it remains
the whole year round I cannot say; at all events, if it does, its close
resemblance to A. caudata enables it to escape notice at other
seasons."
Mr. Cripps, writing from Fureedpore, says: "Very common in long grass
fields. Permanent resident. It utters its soft notes while on the
wing, not only in the cold season but the year through; it is very
noisy during the breeding-time. Breeds in clumps of grass a few inches
above as well as on the ground. I found five nests in the month of May
from 23rd to 28th: one was on the ground in a field of indigo; the
rest were in clumps of 'sone' grass and from the same field composed
of this grass. One nest contained three half-fledged young, and the
rest had four eggs slightly incubated in each. Although they nest in
'sone' grass which is rarely over three feet in height, it is very
difficult to find the nest, as the grass generally overhangs and hides
it. Only when the bird rises almost from your feet are you able to
discover the whereabouts. On several occasions I have noticed this
species perching on bushes."
The eggs, which, to judge from a large series sent me by Mr. Cripps,
do not appear to vary much in shape, are moderately broad ovals, more
or less pointed towards one end. The shell is fine and fragile but
entirely devoid of gloss; the ground-colour is white with a very faint
pinky or lilac tinge, and they are thickly speckled all over with
minute markings of two different shades - the one a sort of purplish
brown (they are so small that it is difficult to make certain of the
exact colour), and the other inky purple or grey. In most eggs the
markings are most dense at or about the large end, and occasionally a
spot may be met with larger than the rest, as big as a pin's head say,
and some of these seem to have a reddish tinge, while some are more of
a sepia.
The eggs vary from 0·75 to 0·86 in length and from 0·59 to 0·62 in
breadth, but the average of twelve eggs is almost exactly 0·8 by 0·6.
394. Hypolais rama (Sykes). Sykes's Tree-Warbler
Phyllopneuste rama (Sykes), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 189.
Iduna caligata, (Licht.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 553.
I have never myself obtained the nest and eggs of Sykes's Tree-Warbler, P. rama, apud Jerd.* On the 1st April, at Etawah, my
friend Mr. Brooks shot a male of this species off a nest; and I saw
the bird, nest, and eggs within an hour, and visited the spot later.
The nest was placed in a low thorny bush, about a foot from the
ground, on the side of a sloping bank in one of the large dry ravines
that in the Etawah District fringe the River Junina for a breadth of
from a mile to four miles. The nest was nearly egg-shaped, with a
circular entrance near the top. It was loosely woven with coarse and fine
grass, and a little of the fibre of the "sun" (Crotalaria
juncea), and very neatly felted on the whole interior surface of
the lower two thirds with a compact coating of the down of
flowering-grasses and little bits of spider's web. It was about 5
inches in its longest and 3½ inches in its shortest diameter. It
contained three fresh eggs, which were white, very thickly speckled
with brownish pink, in places confluent and having a decided tendency
to form a zone near the large end. Three or four days later we shot
the female at the same spot.
*[I reproduce the note on this bird as it appeared in the
'Rough Draft,' but I think some mistake has been made, as Mr. Hume
himself suggests. Full reliance, however, may be placed on Mr. Doig's
note, which is a most interesting contribution.--ED]
A similar nest and two eggs, taken in Jhansi on the 12th August, were
sent me with one of the parent birds by Mr. F. R. Blewitt, and, again,
another nest with four eggs was sent me from Hoshungabad.
There ought to be no doubt about these nests and eggs, the more so
that I have several specimens of the bird from various parts of the
North-Western Provinces and Central Provinces killed in August and
September, but somehow I do not feel quite certain that we have not
made some mistake. Beyond doubt the great mass of this species migrate
and breed further north. I have never obtained specimens in June
or July; and if these nests really, as the evidence seems to show,
belonged to the birds that were shot on or near them, these latter
must have bred in India before or after their migration, as well as in
Northern Asia.
Though one may make minute differences, I do not think either of the
three nests or sets of eggs could be certainly separated from those of Franklinia buchanani, which might well have eggs about both in April
and August; and I am not prepared to say that in each of these three cases Hypolais rama, which frequents precisely the same kind of
bushes that F. buchanani breeds in, may not accidentally have been
shot in the immediate proximity to a nest of the latter, the owner of
which had crept noiselessly away, as these birds so often do.
Dr. Jerdon says: "I have obtained the nest and eggs of this
species on one occasion only at Jaulnah in the Dekhan; the nest was
cup-shaped, made of roots and grass, and contained four pure white
eggs."
I do not attach undue weight to this, for Dr. Jerdon did not care
about eggs, and was rather careless about them; but still his
statement has to be noted, and the whole matter requires careful
investigation.
Mr. Doig found this species breeding on the Eastern Narra in Sind. He
writes: "I first obtained eggs of this bird in March 1879. The first
nest was found by one of my men, who afterwards showed me a bird close
to the place he got the eggs, which he said was either the bird to
which the nest and eggs belonged or one of the same kind. This I shot
and sent to Mr. Hume with one of the eggs to identify. Some time after
I again came across a lot of these birds breeding, and this time lay
in wait myself for the bird to come to the nest and eggs, and when it
did I shot it. This I also sent to Mr. Hume to identify. Some time
after I beard from Mr. Hume, who said that there must be some mistake, as the
birds sent belonged to two different species, viz. Sylvia
affinis and Hypolais rama, and were both, he believed, only
cold-weather visitants. This year I again 'went for' these birds and
again sent specimens of birds and eggs to Mr. Hume, who informed me that the
birds now sent were H. rama, and that the eggs must belong
to this species soon after this Mr. Brooks saw the eggs with Mr. Hume and
identified them as being those H. rama and identical with eggs
he saw at home collected by, I think, Mr. Seebohm of this species
in Siberia. Only fancy a bird breeding on the Narra of all places,
especially in May, June, and July, in preference to Siberia! Locally
they are very numerous, as I collected upwards of 90 to 100 eggs in
one field about eight acres in size. They build in stunted tamarisk
bushes, or rather in bushes of this kind which originally were cut
down to admit of cultivation being carried on, and which afterwards
had again sprouted. These bushes are very dense, and in their centre
is situated the nest, composed of sedge, with a lining of fine grass,
mixed sometimes with a little soft grass-reed. The eggs are, as a
rule, four in number, of a dull white ground-colour with brown spots,
the large end having as a rule a ring round it of most delicate, fine,
hair-like brown lines, something similar to the tracing to be seen on the
eggs of Drymoeca inornata. The egg in size is also similar to
those of that species."
The eggs of this species vary from broad to moderately elongated
ovals, but they are almost always somewhat pointed towards the small
end; the shell is fine but as a rule glossless; here and there,
however, an egg exhibits a faint gloss. The ground-colour is whitish,
never pure white, with an excessively faint greenish, greyish, creamy,
or pinky tinge. The markings are very variable in amount and extent,
but they are always black or nearly so and pale inky grey; perhaps
typically the markings consist of a zone of black hair-lines twisted
and entangled together, in which irregular shaped spots and small
blotches of the same colour appear to have been caught, which zone is
underlaid and more or less surrounded by clouds, streaks, and spots of
pale inky grey. This zone is typically about the large end, but in one
or two eggs is near the middle of the egg and in one or two is about
the small end. Outside this zone a few small specks and spots, and
rarely one or two tiny blotches, of both black and grey are thinly
scattered; occasionally, however, the hair-lines so characteristic of
this egg are almost entirely wanting, there is no apparent zone, and
the markings, spots, and specks are thinly and irregularly distributed
about the entire surface; here and there the whole of the dark
markings on the egg are entirely confined to the zone, elsewhere
only pale lilac specks are visible. Occasionally together with
a well-defined zone numerous specks, spots, and a few hair-line
scratches of black are intermingled with faint purplish-grey spots,
and pretty thinly scattered everywhere.
The eggs vary from 0·53 to 0·68 in length and from 0·46 to 0·51 in
breadth; but the average of a very large number is 0·61 by 0·49.
402. Sylvia affinis (Blyth). Indian Lesser White-throated
Warbler
Sylvia curruca (Gm.), apud Jerdon B.I. ii, p. 209.
Sterparola curruca (Latham), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 583.
Of the nidification of the Lesser Whitethroat within our limits, I
only know that it was found in May, breeding abundantly in Kashmir
in the lower hills, by Mr. Brooks. He did not notice it comparatively
high up; for instance at Gulmerg, which, though not above 9000 feet
high, is at the base of a snowy range, he did not see it at all.
It builds a loose, rather shallow, cup-shaped nest, composed chiefly
of grass, coarser on the exterior and finer interiorly, which it
places in low bushes and thickets at no great elevation from the
ground. The nest is more or less lined with fine grass and roots.
It lays four or sometimes five eggs.
Mr. Brooks writes: "I found this Whitethroat tolerably numerous in Kashmir, where it appears generally distributed, occurring at from
5500 to 6500 feet elevation or thereabouts, It frequents places where
there is abundance of brushwood or underwood, especially along the
banks of rivers or near them.
"I found several nests, and they were all placed in small bushes, and
from 4 to 6 feet above the ground. One was in a bush on a small island
in the Kangan River, which runs into the Sind River; and this nest
I well remember was just so high that I could not look into it as I
stood. The nests precisely resembled in size and structure those of C. garrula which I have seen at home, being formed of grasses,
roots, and fine fibres, and I think scantily lined with a few black
horsehairs; but I forget this now. They were slight, thinly formed
nests, very neat but strong, and had bits of spider's web stuck about
the outside here and there. This appears to be the decoration this bird and
C. garrula are partial to. They were not added, I think,
for the purpose of rendering the nest inconspicuous, for there were
just enough to give the nest a spotted appearance.
"The song of this species strongly resembles that of its congener, and
is full, loud, and sweet. I found the nests by the song of the male,
for he generally sings near the nest. The eggs don't differ from those of C. garrula in my collection."
Major Wardlaw Ramsay says, writing of Afghanistan: "This Warbler was
very common and was breeding by the 27th May. All the nests found were
shallow cups, composed entirely of dried grass, and situated in small
bushes, frequently juniper, about 2½ feet from the ground. The eggs
vary much both in size and colour - some being long ovals, nearly pure
white, spotted with pale brown towards the larger end, and others of
a much rounder form and a pale greenish white, thickly spotted in a
broad zone near the thicker end and smeared with very pale brown,
or else spotted and smeared with olive-brown over the whole of the
thicker end."
The eggs are somewhat broad ovals, typically a good deal pointed
towards the lesser end. They vary, however, much both in size and
shape: some are short and broad, decidedly pointed at the small end;
others are more elongated, and some are almost regular ellipsoids. The
eggs have little or no gloss; the ground-colour is white, with a more
or less perceptible though very faint greenish tinge. Typically they
are very Shrike-like in their markings, the majority of these being
gathered together in a more or less dense zone near the large end.
The markings consist of small spots, blotches, and specks of pale
yellowish brown, more or less intermingled with spots and specks of
dull inky purple or grey; in many eggs there are very few markings,
and these are mere spots except in the zone, while in others
full-sized markings are scattered, though thinly, more or less over
the whole surface of the egg. In some the zone is confluent and
blurred; in others composed of small sharply defined specks and spots.
Here and there a pretty large yellowish-brown cloud may be met with
partially or entirely bounded by a narrow hair-like black line. Tiny
black specks now and then occur, and little zigzag lines that might
have been borrowed from a Bunting's egg; but these are not met with in
probably more than one out of ten eggs.
In length the eggs vary from 0·6 to 0·75, and in breadth from 0·48 to
0·55; but the average of sixteen eggs is 0·66 by 0·5.
406. Phylloscopus tytleri, Brooks. Tytler's Willow-Warbler
Phylloscopus tytleri, (Brooks), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 560 bis.
Tytler's Willow-Warbler, as yet a rare bird in collections, and which
appears only to straggle down to the plains of Upper India during the
cold season, was found by Captain Cock breeding at Sonamerg (9400 feet
elevation) in the Sindh Valley, Kashmir, in June.
Mr. Brooks, who discriminated the bird, said of it and its
nidification: "In plumage resembling P. viridanus, but of a richer
and deeper olive; it is entirely without the 'whitish wing-bar,' which is
always present in viridanus, unless in very abraded plumage. The
wing is shorter, so is the tail; but the great difference is in the
bill, which is much longer, darker, and of a more pointed and slender
form in P. tytleri. The song and notes are utterly different, so are
the localities frequented. P. viridanus is an inhabitant of brushwood
ravines, at 9000 and 10,000 feet elevation; while P.
tytleri is exclusively a pine-forest Phylloscopus. In the places
frequented by P. viridanus, it must build on the ground, or very
near it; but our new species builds, 40 feet up a pine-tree, a compact
half-domed nest on the side of a branch.
"Captain Cock shot one of this species off the nest at Sonamerg with
four eggs. The bird he sent to me, and gave me two of the eggs.
Regarding the nest he says: 'I took a nest, containing four eggs,
about 40 feet up a pine, on the outer end of a bough, by means of
ropes and sticks, and I shot the female bird. I do not know what the bird is.
I thought it was P. viridanus, but I send it to you. The
nest was very deep, solidly built, and cup-shaped. Eggs, plain white.'
In conversation with Captain Cock he afterwards told me that he had
watched the bird building its nest. It was rather on the side of the
branch, and its solid formation reminded him of a Goldfinch's nest.
It was composed of grass, fibres, moss, and lichens externally and
thickly lined with hair and feathers. The eggs were pure unspotted white,
rather smaller than those of Reguloides occipitalis. Two of
them measured ·58 by ·48 and ·57 by ·45. They were taken on the 4th
June."
Captain Cock himself writes to me: "Of all the birds' nests that I
know of, this is one of the most difficult to find. One day in the
forest at Sonamerg, Kashmir, I noticed a Warbler fly into a high pine
with a feather in its bill. I watched with the glasses and saw that it
was constructing a nest, so allowing a reasonable time to elapse (nine
days or so) I went and took the nest. It was placed on the outer end
of a bough, about 40 feet up a high pine, and I had to take the nest
by means of a spar lashed at right angles to the tree, the outer
extremity of which was supported by a rope fastened to the top of
the pine. The nest was a very solid, deep cup, of grass, fibres, and
lichens externally, and lined with hair and feathers. It contained
four white eggs, measuring 0·58 by 0·48.
"I shot the female, which I sent to Mr. Brooks for identification.
"I forgot to add that this nest, the only one I ever found, was taken
early in June."
The egg of this species closely resembles that of some of the species of Abrornis - a moderately broad oval, slightly pointed at the small
end, pure white, and almost glossless. The only specimen I have seen
measures 0·58 by 0·45.
410. Phylloscopus fuscatus (Blyth). Dusky Willow-Warbler
Phylloscopus fuscatus (Blyth), Jerdon B.I. ii, p. 191.
Horornis fulviventer, (Hodgson), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 523.
Mr. Blyth long ago stated in 'The Ibis' that Horornis fulviventris was
identical with P. fuscatus*.
*[It is with considerable hesitation that I reproduce this note. Horornis fulviventris with which Jerdon identified the bird,
the nest of which he describes, is certainly P. fuscatus. The only
doubt I have is whether Jerdon, who apparently had not seen a specimen of H. fulviventris, rightly identified his bird with it. With this
explanation the note is republished as it appeared in the 'Rough
Draft.'--ED.]
Subsequently I procured several specimens which were quite distinct from P. fuscatus, structurally as well as in plumage answering
perfectly to Hodgson's description.
I wrote to Dr. Jerdon mentioning this fact, and he replied: "I also am
not satisfied of the identity of this species (H. fulviventris) with
Phylloscopus fuscatus. I have recently got at Darjeeling what I take
to be Horornis fulviventris, and it is somewhat smaller in all its
dimensions, but I had not a typical P. fuscatus with which to
compare it. Specimens measured 4¾ to 4-7/8 inches; expanse 6½ inches;
wing 2 to 2-1/16 inches. I procured the nest and eggs in July; the
nest, cup-shaped, on a bank, composed of grass chiefly, with a few
fibres; and the eggs, three in number, pinky white, with a few reddish
spots."
It is certainly not P. fuscatus (though possibly some specimens of P. fuscatus in the British Museum may bear a label formerly attached
to a bird of this species), nor any other Horornis or Horeites
included in Dr. Jerdon's work, all of which I have. Mr. Blyth possibly
went by Mr. Hodgson's specimens in the British Museum, but some
confusion has, it is known, somehow crept in amongst these; and I have no
doubt myself that Horornis fulviventris is a good species,
and that it was the nest and eggs of this species which Dr. Jerdon
found*.
*[I omit the article on Abrornis chloronotus, (Hodgson),
which appeared in the 'Rough Draft' under number 574 bis. There is no
manner of doubt that Hodgson got the wrong nest, a nest of a Sunbird,
and figured it as that of this bird.--ED.]
415. Phylloscopus proregulus (Pallas). Pallas's Willow-Warbler
Reguloides chloronotus (Hodgson), Jerdon B.I. ii, p. 197.
Reguloides proregulus (Pallas), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E.
no. 566.
Captain Cock has the honor of being the first to take, and, I
believe, up to date the only oologist who has ever taken, the nest
and eggs of Pallas's Willow-Warbler. Mr. Brooks tried hard for the
prize, but he searched on the ground and so missed the nest. He wrote
to me from Kashmir, just about the time (June 1871) that Captain
Cock found the nest he obtained: "I have been utterly unable to do
anything with P. proregulus. I shot a female, with an egg nearly
ready to lay, when I first went to Gulmerg, but though I often heard
the males singing, I never could find any indication of the nesting female.
The feeble song, like that of P. sibilatrix, alluded to by Blyth as
being that of P. superciliosus, is not that of this latter
bird, but of P. proregulus".
Later, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, he noted that "Captain
Cock took the nest and eggs at Sonamerg. It builds, like the
Golden-crested Regulus, up a fir-tree, at from 6 to 40 feet elevation,
on the outer ends of the branches. The nest is of moss, wool and
fibres, and profusely lined with feathers. Eggs, four or five, pure
white, profusely spotted with red and a few spots of purple grey.
Size, 0·53 by 0·43."
Later still he added in 'The Ibis:' "Captain Cock writes from
Sonamerg: 'The second day I found my first nest with eggs. It was the nest of
P. proregulus. I shot the old bird. Three eggs. These nests
are often placed on a bough high up in a pine-tree, and are domed or
roofed, made of moss and lined with feathers. I took another one to
day with five eggs, and shot the bird just as it was entering its
nest. This was on a bough of a pine, but low down. I know of two more nests
of P. proregulus, all on pine-trees, from which I hope to take
eggs.'
"After describing the nest of P. humii, and saying that it was lined
with the hair of the musk-deer, he adds: 'In this the nest differs from that
of P. proregulus, which lines its nest with feathers and bits of thin
birch-bark; and the nest of P. proregulus is only
partly domed.'
"I measured four eggs of P. proregulus which Captain Cock kindly
gave me, and the dimensions are as follows: ·55 by ·44, ·53 by ·43,
·53 by ·43, and ·54 by ·43. They are pure white, richly marked with
dark brownish red, particularly at the larger end, forming there a
fine zone on most of the eggs. Intermingled with these spots,
and especially on the zone, are some spots and blotches of deep
purple-grey. The egg is very handsome, and reminds one strongly of those of
Parus cristatus on a smaller scale. The dates when the eggs
were taken are 30th May and 2nd June, and the place Sonamerg, which is
four marches up the valley of the Sindh River."
Captain Cock himself tells me that he "took several nests of this bird
at Sonamerg in Kashmir in pine-forests. It breeds in May and June,
making a partially domed nest, which is sometimes placed low down on
the bough of a pine-tree, sometimes on a small sapling pine where the
junction of the bough with the stem takes place, and at other times
high up on the outer end of a bough. It lays five eggs, like those of P. humii only smaller. The nests I found were all lined with
feathers and thin birch-bark strips. I never found a hair-lining in
any of this bird's nests. The outer portions of the nest consisted of
moss and lichen, arranged so as to harmonize with the bough on which
it was placed. The nests are compact little structures."
Mr. Brooks, writing of the valley of the Bhagirati river,
says: "Common in the alpine parts of the valley. It breeds about
Derali, Bairamghati, and Gangotri, in the large moss-grown deodars."
The eggs of this species closely resemble those of P. humii, but are
smaller, and, to judge from a few specimens taken by Captain Cock that
I have seen, they are somewhat shorter and broader.
Texture smooth, without any perceptible gloss. Ground-colour pure
white, spotted freely and principally towards the larger end with red:
brick-dust red would perhaps scarcely be a correct term. The colour
would be obtained by mixing a little brown and a good deal of purple
with vermilion, or by mixing Indian red with a little Venetian red.
At the larger end they have an irregular zone of small, more or less
confluent, spots and specks of this red, mingled with reddish or
brownish purple, and a few specks and spots of the red scattered over
the rest of the surface of the egg.
This egg may also be well described, as regards colour and mode of
marking, by saying that it resembles the illustration in Hewitson's work of
the eggs of Parus cristatus, except that the egg of P.
proregulus has a distinct zone of nearly confluent spots, and their
colour is more of a brownish red than those shown in the plate above
referred to, which by-the-by do not correctly represent the colour of the
spots upon the eggs of P. cristatus which I have seen. These
spots are colored with too much of a tendency towards crimson instead
of brownish red.
Three of the eggs taken by Captain Cock varied from 0·53 to 0·55 in
length, and from 0·43 to 0·44 in breadth.
416. Phylloscopus subviridis (Brooks). Brooks's Willow-Warbler
Reguloides subviridis, (Brooks), Hume, cat. no. 566 bis.
Colonel Biddulph remarks that this species is common in Gilgit at 5000
feet in March, April, May, and beginning of June, and that it breeds
in the Nulter valley in July at 10,000 feet. Young birds were shot in
August fully fledged.
Major Wardlaw Ramsay observes on the label of a specimen procured by
him at Bian Kheyl in Afghanistan in April, "evidently breeding"; and
on that of another specimen shot in May at the same place, "contained
eggs nearly ready to lay."
418. Phylloscopus humii (Brooks). Hume's Willow-Warbler
Reguloides humii, (Brooks), Hume, cat. no. 565 bis.
Reguloides superciliosus (Gm), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E.
no. 565.
Mr. Brooks and Captain Cock are the only persons I know of who have
taken the eggs and nests of this species. The nest and eggs sent to
and described by me in 'The Ibis' as belonging to this bird cannot
really have pertained to it.
Mr. Brooks tells us that P. humii "is very abundant in Kashmir, and
I believe in all hills immediately below the snows. It would be
vain to look for this bird at elevations below 8000 feet, or at any
distance from the snows. It was common even in the birch woods above
the upper line of pines. I found many nests. It builds a globular nest
of coarse grass on a bank side, always on the ground, and never up a
tree. The nest is lined with hair in greater or lesser quantities.
The eggs, four or five in number, average ·56 by ·44, are pure white,
profusely spotted with red, and sometimes have also a few spots of
purplish grey. On the 15th June I found a nest with four young ones on
the south side of the Pir-Pinjal Pass. This bird has no song, only a
double chirp in addition to its callnote. The double chirp, which
is very loud, is intended for a song, for the male bird incessantly
repeats it as he feeds from tree to tree near where the female is
sitting upon her nest."
Nests of this species obtained in Kashmir towards the end of May
and during June near Gulmerg, and brought me by Mr. Brooks, were
certainly by no means worthy of this pretty little Warbler. They are
very loosely made, more or less straggling cups of somewhat coarse
grass, only slightly lined interiorly with fine moss-roots. The
egg-cavity is very small compared with the size of the nest, some of
which, look like balls of grass with a small hole in the centre. They
average from 4 to 5 inches in external diameter, and from 2 to 3
inches in height. The egg cavity does not exceed 2 inches in diameter,
and seems often to be less, and is from an inch to half an inch in
depth.
From Kashmir, when in the thick of the nests of this species, Mr.
Brooks wrote to me as follows:
"From Gulmerg, which is at the foot of a snowy range, I went up to
the foot of the snows through pine-forests. The pines ceased near the
snow and were replaced by birch wood on tremendously rocky ground, which
bothered me greatly to get over. I had missed P. humii after
leaving the foot of the hill, where water was plentiful, but here
again the bird became abundant. I could not, however, find a nest
here, though I watched several pairs. I think in the cooler country
they breed later. Flowers which had gone out of bloom below I again
met with up here in full flower.
"Blyth says: R. superciliosus has not any song, unless a sort of
double call, consisting of two notes, can be called a song,' This the
males vigorously uttered all day long, but I did not notice this much;
but as soon as the female sharply and rapidly uttered the well-known
bell-like call, I knew she was disturbed from her nest, or had left it
of her own accord. Whichever of us heard this rushed quickly to the
spot, and the female once sighted was kept in view as she flitted from
tree to tree, apparently carelessly feeding all the while; soon she
came lower down to the bashes below, and now her note quickened and
betokened anxiety; generally before half an hour would elapse she
would make a dash at a particular spot, and wish to go in but checked
herself. This would be repeated two or three times, and now the nest
was within the compass of 2 or 3 yards. At last down she went and her
note ceased. When all had been quiet for a minute or two, the male
meanwhile continuing his double note in the trees above, I cautiously
approached the place. Sometimes the nest was very artfully concealed,
but other times there it was--the round green ball with the opening at
one side. I often saw the female put her head out and then partially
draw it in again. Her well-defined supercilium was very distinct. I
thought I could catch her on the nest once, and went round above her,
but out came her head a little further, and she bolted as I brought
down my pocket handkerchief on the nest. I shot one or two from the
nest, but this I found unnecessary. In every case the female shouted
vigorously on leaving the nest or immediately after, and by her very
peculiar note fully authenticated the eggs."
Elsewhere Mr. Brooks has remarked: "Gulmerg is one of those mountain
downs, or extensive pasture lands, which are numerous on the top of
the range of hills immediately below the Pir-Pinjal Range, which is
the first snowy range. It is a beautiful mountain common, about
3000 feet above the level of Srinagar, which latter place has an
elevation of 5235 feet. This common is about 3 miles long and about a
couple of miles wide, but of very irregular shape. On all sides the
undulating grass-land is surrounded by pine-clad hills, and on one
side the pine-slopes are surmounted by snowy mountains. On the side
near the snow the supply of water in the woods is ample. The whole
hill-side is intersected by small ravines, and each ravine has its
stream of pure cold water - water so different from the tepid fluid we
drink in the plains. In such places where there were water and old pines P. humii was very abundant: every few yards was the domain of
a pair. The males were very noisy, and continually uttered their song.
This song is not that described by Mr. Blyth as being similar to the notes of
the English Wood-Wren (P. sibilatrix) but fainter - it is a
loud double chirp or call, hardly worthy of being dignified with the
name of song at all. While the female was sitting, the male continued
vigorously to utter his double note as he fed from tree to tree. To
this note I and my native assistants paid but little attention;
but when the female, being off the nest, uttered her well-known tiss-yip, as Mr. Blyth expresses the call of a Willow-Wren, we
repaired rapidly to the spot and kept her in view. In every instance,
before an hour had passed, she went into her nest, first making a few
impatient dashes at the place where it was, as much as to say - 'There
it is, but I don't want you to see me go in.'
"The nest of P. humii is always, so far as my observation goes
placed on the ground on some sloping bank or ravine-side. The
situation preferred is the lower slope near the edge of the wood, and
at the root of some very small bush or tree; often, however, on quite
open ground, where the newly growing herbage was so short that it only
partially concealed it. In form it is a true Willow-Wren's nest - a
rather large globular structure with the entrance at one side.
Regarding the first nest taken, I have noted that it was placed on a
sloping bank on the ground, among some low ferns and other plants, and
close to the root of a small broken fir tree which, being somewhat
inclined over the nest, protected it from being trodden upon. It was
composed of coarse dry grass and moss and lined with finer grass and a
few black hairs. The cavity was about 2 inches, and the entrance about
1½ inch in diameter. About 20 yards from the nest was a large, old,
hollow fir tree, and in this I sat till the female returned to her
nest. My attendant then quietly approached the spot, when she flew
out of the nest and sat on a low bank 2 or 3 yards from it: then she uttered
her 'tiss-yip' which I know so well, and darted away among
the pines. My man retired, upon which she soon returned, and having
called for a few minutes in the vicinity of the nest, she ceased her
note and quickly entered. Again she was quietly disturbed, and sat on
a twig not far from the nest. I heard her call once more, and then
shot her. There were five eggs, which were slightly incubated.
* * * * *
"My second nest was placed on the side of a steep bank on the ground.
The third was similarly placed, and composed of coarse grass and moss,
and lined with black horsehair. In each of these nests the number of
eggs was five.
"Another nest, taken on the 1st June, with four eggs, was placed on
the ground on a sloping bank, at the foot of a small thin bush. It was
composed as usual of coarse dry grass and moss, and lined with finer
grasses and a few hairs. The eggs were five or six days incubated. Another nest, with four eggs, was placed on the ground, under the
inclined trunk of a small fir. The same materials were used.
"Another nest, containing four eggs, was placed on a sloping bank and
quite exposed, there being little or no herbage to conceal it. It was
composed as before, with the addition of a few feathers in the outer
portion of the nest. Another nest was at the roots of a fern growing on a very steep bank.
The new shoots of the fern grew up above the nest, and last year's
dead leaves overhung it and entirely concealed it. Another was placed on a sloping bank, immediately under the trunk of
a fallen and decayed pine. On account of the irregularities in the
ground, the trunk did not touch the ground where the nest was by about
2 feet. This was again an instance of contrivance for the nest's
protection. It was composed of the same materials as usual.
"Another was among the branches of a shrub, right in the centre of the
bush and on the ground, which was sloping as usual. Another nest, with four eggs, taken on 3rd June, was placed in the
steep bank of a small stream, only 3 feet 6 inches above the water.
"The above examples will give a very fair idea of the situation of the
nest; and it now remains only to describe the eggs, which average ·56
long by ·44 broad. The largest egg which was measured was ·62 long
and ·45 broad, and the smallest measured ·52 long and ·43 broad. The
ground-colour is always pure white, more or less spotted with brownish
red, the spots being much more numerous and frequently in the form of
a rich zone or cap at the larger end. Intermixed with the red spots
are sometimes a few purplish-grey ones. Other eggs are marked with
deep purple-brown spots, like those of the Chiffchaff, and the spots
are also intermingled with purplish grey. Some eggs are boldly and
richly marked, while others are minutely spotted. The egg also varies
in shape; but, as a general rule, they are rather short and round, resembling
in shape those of P. trochilus. In returning from Kashmir, on the south face of the Pir-Pinjal Mountain and close to
the footpath, I found on the 15th June a nest of this bird with four
young ones. This nest was placed in an unusually steep bank. Half an
hour after finding the nest, and perhaps 1000 feet lower down the
hill, I stood upon a mass of snow which had accumulated in the bed of
a mountain-stream."
Captain Charles R. Cock writes to me that he "took numbers of nests at
Sonamerg, in the Sindh Valley in Kashmir, during a nesting trip that
I took in 1871 with my valued and esteemed friend W. E. Brooks.
Although at the time of our finding the nest of this Warbler we were
about 80 miles apart, yet we both found our first nest on the same
day - the 31st May. I believe he was by a couple of hours or so the
winner, as I do not think the egg had ever been taken before.
"Breeds in May or June on the ground in banks; makes a globular nest
of moss, well lined with fine grass, musk-deer hair, or horse-hair. It
lays five eggs, white spotted with rusty red, inclining to a zone at
the larger end."
Typically the eggs of this species are broad ovals, slightly
compressed towards one end; the ground pure white and almost perfectly
devoid of gloss, speckled and spotted with red or purplish red, the
markings, most dense about the large end, often forming an irregular
mottled cap or zone. These are the general characters, but the eggs
vary very much in shape, size, colour, and density of markings. Some
eggs are almost spherical; others are somewhat elongated; others
slightly pyriform. As a body, alike in shape and coloration, they
remind one of the eggs of many species of Indian Tit, especially those of Lophophanes melanolophus. In some eggs the markings are
a slightly brownish brickdust-red, moderate sized spots and specks
scattered pretty thickly over the whole surface, but gathered into
a dense, more or less confluent, zone or cap towards the large end.
Intermingled with these primary markings a few pale purple spots
are scattered towards the large end of the eggs. In other eggs the
markings are mostly mere specks, and in this type of egg the specks
are mostly brownish purple, in some almost black. Occasionally an
egg is almost entirely spotless, having only towards the large end a
clouded dingy reddish-purple zone. In some eggs again the colour of
the markings is pale and washed out. As a rule, the eggs in which the
markings are of the brickdust-red type have these larger, bolder, and
more numerous; while those in which the markings are purple have them
of a more minute character.
The shape of the eggs, as already noticed, varies much, being sometimes
longer than those of P. trochilus, and at other times very
much of the same rounded shape. Frequently they are more pointed at
the smaller end than those of P. trochilus usually are. The texture
of the egg is similar to that of P. trochilus, with scarcely any
gloss. The ground-colour is always pure white, and the markings,
which are always more or less plentiful, are either reddish brown
or purple-brown, intermingled sparingly with lighter or darker
purple-grey.
Some eggs contain hardly a speck of the purple-grey, while others have
considerable blotches of that colour scattered amongst the red spots.
Some eggs are scantily marked, and have the spots very small; while
others are densely spotted and blotched, the spots often being more or
less confluent at the larger end. Frequently they accumulate round
the larger end in the form of a confluent zone. The variety with deep
purple-brown spots, which is the rarest, resembles those of P.
rufa in miniature; but, as a rule, the egg bears a much stronger
resemblance to that of P. trochilus, though it is of course
much smaller. As far as the colour goes, the representations in
Hewitson's work of the eggs of Parus cristatus, Parus coeruleus,
and Phylloscopus trochilus will give a very correct idea of the
different varieties of the egg of the present bird.
The greatest number of eggs found in any nest by Captain Cock and Mr.
Brooks was five; frequently, however, four was the number upon which
the bird was sitting; eggs partially incubated. On the Pir-Pinjal
Mountain, just below the snows, a nest with four young ones was found
on the 15th June, so that, though five seems to be the usual number,
the bird frequently lays only four.
In length the eggs vary from 0·52 to 0·62, and in breadth from 0·43 to
0·47; but the average of fifty eggs carefully measured was 0·56 full
by 0·44.
428. Acanthopneuste occipitalis, Jerdon Large Crowned
Willow-Warbler
Reguloides occipitalis (Jerdon), Jerdon B.I. ii, p. 196; Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 563.
The Large Crowned Willow-Warbler breeds in Kashmir and the North-west
Himalayas generally, during the latter half of May, June, and the
first half of July, apparently at any elevation from 4000 to 8000
feet.
Mr. Brooks says: "This is perhaps the commonest bird in Kashmir, even more so
than Passer indicus. It is found at almost all
elevations above the valley where good woods occur."
"I only took three nests, as the little bird is very cunning, and,
unlike the simple P. humii, is very careful indeed how it approaches
its nest when an enemy is near. The nest is placed in a hole under the roots of a large tree on some
steep bank-side. I found one in a decayed stump of a large fir-tree,
inside the rotten wood. It was placed on a level with the ground, and
could not be seen till I had broken away part of the outside of the
stump. It was composed of green moss and small dead leaves, a scanty
and loosely formed nest, and not domed. It was lined with fine grass
and a little wool, and also a very few hairs. There were five eggs.
"Another nest was also placed in a rotten stump, but under the roots.
A third nest was placed in a hole under the roots of a large living
pine, and in front of the hole grew a small rose-bush quite against
the tree-trunk. This nest was most carefully concealed, for the hole
behind the roots of the rose-bush was most difficult to find. The eggs, four or five in number, are of a rather longer form than
those of P. humii, and are pure white without any spots. They
average ·65 by ·5."
He added in epist.: "This is a much shier bird than P. humii. I
watched many a one without effect. The nest is a loose structure of
moss lined with a little wool, and would not retain its shape after
coming out of the hole. It is a most amusing bird, very noisy, with a
short poor song, and utters a variety of notes when you are near the
nest."
Certainly the nests he brought me are nothing but little pads of moss,
3 to 4 inches in diameter and perhaps an inch in thickness. There is
no pretence for a lining, but a certain amount of wool and excessively fine
moss-roots are incorporated in the body of the nest. In situ
they would appear to be sometimes more or less domed.
Captain Cock writes to me: "I have taken numbers of nests of this
bird in Kashmir and in and about the hill-station of Murree. They
commence breeding in May and have finished by July. The nests are
placed under roots of trees, in crevices of trees, between large
stems, and a favorite locality is, where the road has a stone
embankment to support it, between the stones. The nest is globular,
made of moss, and the number of eggs is four. I have often caught the
old bird on the nest. The nests are easy to find, as the birds are
very noisy and demonstrative when any one is near their nests."
Colonel C. H. T. Marshall also very kindly gives me the following most
interesting note on the nidification of this species in the vicinity
of Murree. He says:
"This little Willow-Warbler, so far as my own experience goes, always
prefers a pretty high elevation for breeding. Out of the dozen nests
found by Captain Cock and myself in the neighborhood of Murree, none
were at an elevation of less than 6500 feet above the sea; and my
shikaree, who was always on the look out for me in the lower ranges, never came across the nest of this species.
"The nest is generally placed in holes at the foot of the large spruce firs. It is a difficult nest to find, as the bird selects holes into which the hand will not
go, and outside there are no signs of there being any nest within. The cock bird spends most of his time at the tops of trees, coming down at intervals. The only chance
of success in taking the eggs is to watch carefully any that may be flying low in the bushes, until they disappear cautiously into the holes where they are breeding. I
should mention that we have also found some nests in the rough stone walls on the hill road-sides."
"The nest is as neatly and carefully built as if it had to be exposed on the branch of a tree. It is globular in shape, made of moss, and
lined with feathers. The eggs are pure white. They apparently rear two broods in the year. In the first nest, which we found under the root
of an old spruce-fir on the 17th May, the eggs were quite hard-set; and I may remark that immediately over this nest, about 8 feet up the tree in
a crack in the wood, a little Muscicapula superciliaris was sitting on five eggs. Later at the end of June we found fresh eggs
in several nests. The eggs in our collection were all taken between the 17th May and the 10th July."
They do not always, however, select such situations as those referred to in the above accounts. Sir E. C. Buck says: "I found a nest on 11th June in the roof of
Major Batchelor's bungalow at Nachar (Nichar, Kinnaur?), in the Sutluj Valley; it contained young birds. I was not allowed to disturb the
nest, which was composed externally of moss. I noticed a second half-made nest near the other."
The eggs of this species are, as might be expected, somewhat larger than
those of P. humii, and they are of a different character, being
spotless, white, and slightly glossy. In shape the eggs vary from
a nearly perfect, moderately elongated oval to a slightly pyriform
shape, broad at the large end, and a good deal compressed and somewhat
pointed towards the small end (vide the representation of the eggs of Ruticilla tithys in Hewitson's work).
In length they vary from 0·63 to 0·68, and in breadth from 0·48 to 0·53; but the average of fifteen eggs measured is 0·65 by 0·5.
430. Acanthopneuste davisoni, Oates. Tenasserim White-tailed Willow-Warbler
Reguloides viridipennis (Blyth), apud Hume, cat. no. 507*
*[Mr. Hume is of opinion that this bird is the true P. viridipennis of Blyth. I have elsewhere stated my reasons for disagreeing with him.--ED.]
It was on the 2nd of February, just at the foot of the final cone of Mooleyit, at an elevation of over 6000 feet, that Mr. Davison came upon the nest of this species. He
says:
"In a deep ravine close below the summit of Mooleyit I found a nest of
this Willow-Warbler. It was placed in a mass of creepers growing over
the face of a rock about 7 feet from the ground. It was only partially
screened, and I easily detected it on the bird leaving it. I was very
much astonished at finding a nest of a Willow-Warbler in Burma, so
I determined to make positively certain of the owner. I marked the
place, and after a short time returned very quietly. I got within a
couple of feet of the nest; the bird sat still, and I watched her for
some time; the markings on the top of the head were very conspicuous.
On my attempting to go closer the bird flew off, and settled on a
small branch a few feet off. I moved back a short distance and shot her, using a very small charge.
"The nest was a globular structure, with the roof slightly projecting over the entrance. It was composed externally chiefly of moss, intermingled with dried leaves and
fibres; the egg-cavity was warmly and thickly lined with a felt of pappus. "The external diameter of the nest was about 4 inches; the egg-cavity 1 inch at the entrance,
and 2 inches deep.
"The nest contained three small pure white eggs. The three eggs here mentioned measured 0·59 and 0·6 in length, by 0·49 in breadth."
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