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99. Trochalopterum lineatum (Vig.). Himalayan Streaked
Laughing-Thrush
Trochalopteron lineatum (Vigors), Jerdon B. Ind. ii, p. 50; Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E. no. 425*.
*[I omit the note on T. imbricatum in the 'Rough Draft,'
because, as I have shown in the 'Birds of India,' this bird was
unknown to Hodgson, and his note refers to T. lineatum. Sufficient
is now known about the nidification of this latter to render the
insertion of Hodgson's note unnecessary.--ED.]
Next to the Common
House-Sparrow, the Himalayan Streaked
Laughing-Thrush is perhaps the most familiar bird about our houses
at all the hill-stations of the Himalayas westward of
Nepal and
throughout the lower ranges on which these stations are situated; this
species breeds at elevations of from 5000 to 8000 feet.
It lays from the end of April to the beginning of September, and very
possibly occasionally even earlier and later. I took a nest on the
29th April near Mussoorie; Mr. Brooks obtained eggs in May and June at
Almorah; Colonel G. F. L. Marshall at Mussoorie in July and August; and
Colonel C. H. T. Marshall at Murree from May to the end of July. I again
took them in July and August near
Shimla, and Captain Beavan found them
as late as the 6th of September near the same station.
So far as my own experience goes, the nests are always placed in
very thick bushes or in low thick branches of some tree, the Deodar
appearing to be a great favorite. Those I found averaged about 4 feet
from the ground, but I took a single one in a Deodar tree fully 8 feet
up. The bird, as a rule, conceals its nest so well that, though a
loose and, for the size of the architect, a large structure, it is
difficult to find, even when one closely examines the bush in which it
is. The nest is nearly circular, with a deep cup-like cavity in the centre,
reminding one much of that of Crateropus canorus, and is
constructed of dry grass and the fine stems of herbaceous plants,
often intermingled with the bark of some fibrous plant, with a
considerable number of dead leaves interwoven in the fabric,
especially towards the base. The cavity is neatly lined with fine
grass-roots, or occasionally very fine grass. The cavity varies from 3
inches to 3·5 in diameter, and from 2·25 inches to 2·75 in depth; the
walls immediately surrounding the cavity are very compact, but the
compact portion rarely exceeds from ·75 to 1 inch in thickness, beyond
which the loose ends of the material straggle more or less, so that
the external diameter varies from 5·5 inches to nearly 10.
The normal number of eggs appears to me to be three, although Captain
Beavan cites an instance of four being found.
Captain Hutton tells us (J.A.S.B. xvii.) that in the neighborhood of
Mussoorie "this bird is met with in pairs, sometimes in a family of
four or five, and may be seen under every bush. The nest is placed
near the ground, in the midst of some thick low bush, or on the side
of a bank amidst overhanging coarse grass, and not unfrequently in
exposed and well-frequented places; it is loosely and rather slovenly
constructed of coarse dry grasses and stalks externally, lined
sometimes with fine grass, sometimes with fine roots. The eggs are
three in number, and in shape and size exceedingly variable, being
sometimes of an ordinary oval, at others nearly round."
From
Almorah and
Nainital my friend Mr. Brooks writes to me "that
this bird is common everywhere. The nest is generally placed in a low
tree or bush where the foliage is thick. It is composed of grass, and
lined with finer grass. The eggs are three in number, one inch and one
line long by nine lines broad. They are of a light greenish blue,
the tint being much the same as that of the eggs of Acridotheres
tristis. They lay from the commencement of May to the end of June."
Colonel G. F. L. Marshall tells me that "the Streaked Laughing-Thrush is
very common at Mussoorie, where it is called by the public the Robin
of India. It breeds in July and August all about Landour. The nest is
cup-shaped, rather shallow, and loosely put together, made of grass
and fibre with some moss and a few dead leaves twisted into it; it
is placed in a low bush or else on the ground concealed among the
grass-roots on the hill-side. The eggs, three or four in number, are
oval, rather large for the bird, and of a pure light-blue colour
without spots. I took eggs on the 26th and 28th July and on the 16th
August."
Sir E. C. Buck writes: "At Matiana, three marches north of Shimla,
I found on the 28th June a nest in a bush on the side of a scantily
'jungled' hill. It was 2 feet from the ground, constructed of grass
and stalks externally, and lined with fibrous roots. It contained
three fresh eggs. The nest measured - exterior diameter 6 inches,
height exteriorly 4 inches; the interior diameter was 3 inches, and
the depth of the cavity 2 inches."
The late Captain Beavan tells us that "on the 16th of August, 1866, I
found a nest in the garden, in a rose-bush, with four pale blue eggs
in it, like those of Acridotheres tristis. The nest is a large
structure, firmly built of dry twigs, bark, sticks, ferns, and roots.
Another nest, with three eggs only, was found in a thick clump of
everlasting peas close to the ground on the 6th of September. The
female sat very close, and this may have been the second nest of the
same pair that built the nest mentioned above, as it was built not far
from the first."
Major C. T. Bingham writes: "Being at Landour for a few days in May I
chanced on a nest of this bird, perhaps the commonest in the hills. It
was placed under an overhanging bush on the side of Lal Tiba hill, and on the ground, being constructed rather loosely of pieces of
the withered stem of some creeper, intertwined with a quantity of
oak-leaves, and lined with grass-roots."
The eggs, of which I must have seen some hundreds, as this is the
commonest Laughing-Thrush about both Mussoorie and Shimla, are
typically regular and moderately broad ovals. Abnormally elongated,
spherical, and pyriform varieties occur; some are nearly round like a
Kingfisher's, and I have seen one almost as slender as a Swift's, but,
as a rule, the eggs vary but little either in shape or colour. They
are perfectly spotless, moderately glossy, and of a delicate pale
greenish blue, which of course varies a little in shade and intensity
of colour, but which is very much paler on the average than those of any of
the Crateropi, and at the same time less glossy. I am not at
all sure whether T. lineatum is rightly associated with species like
T. cachinnans, T. variegatum, and T. erythrocephalum, which all
have spotted eggs.
In length the eggs vary from 0·8 to 1·13, and in breadth from 0·63 to
0·8; but the average of fifty-eight eggs carefully measured is 1·01 by
0·73.
101. Grammatoptila striata (Vig.). Striated Laughing-Thrush
Grammatoptila striata (Vigors), Jerdon B. Ind. ii; p. 11; Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E. no. 382.
The Striated Laughing-Thrush, remarks Mr. Blyth, "builds a compact
Jay-like nest. The eggs are spotless blue, as shown by one of Mr.
Hodgson's drawings in the British Museum."
A nest of this species found near Darjeeling in July was placed on the
branches of a large tree, at a height of about 12 feet.
It was a huge shallow cup, composed mainly of moss, bound together with stems
of creepers and fronds of a Selaginella, and lined with
coarse roots and broken pieces of dry grass. A few dead leaves were
incorporated in the body of the nest. The nest was about 8 or 9 inches
in diameter and about 2 in thickness, the broad, shallow, saucer-like
cavity being about an inch in depth.
The nest contained two nearly fresh eggs. The eggs appear to be rather
peculiarly shaped. They are moderately elongated ovals, a good deal
pinched out and pointed towards the small end, in the same manner
(though in a less degree) as those of some Plovers, Snipe, etc. I do
not know whether this is the typical shape of this egg, or whether it
is an abnormal peculiarity of the eggs of this particular nest. The
shell is fine, but the eggs have very little gloss. In colour they are
a very pale spotless blue, not much darker than those of Zosterops
palpebrosus.
The eggs measure 1·3 and 1·32 in length, and 0·89 and 0·92 in breadth.
From Sikkim, Mr. Gammie writes: "In the first week of May I took a
nest of the Striated Laughing-Thrush out of a small tree growing in
the forest at 5500 feet above the sea. It was fixed among spray about
10 feet up. In shape it is a shallow, broad cup, and is built in three
layers: the outer one of twining stems, which besides holding the nest
together fastened it to the spray; the middle layer is an intermixture
of green moss and fresh fern-fronds, and the inner a thick lining of
roots. Externally it measured 7·5 inches broad by 5·25 inches deep;
internally 4 inches by 2·75 inches. It contained two hard-set eggs."
Several nests of this species that I have now seen have all been of
the same type, large nests 9 or 10 inches in diameter, and 4 to 5 in
height, the body of the nest composed mainly of green moss interwoven
with and bound round about with the stems of creepers and a few pliant
twigs, many of which straggle away a good deal outside the limits
which I have assigned in stating the dimensions above. The cavities
are not quite hemispherical, a little shallower, say 4·5 inches in
diameter and 2 inches in depth, closely lined with fine black roots.
They have all been placed in the branches of trees at heights of from
8 to 20 feet.
Eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie in May, and Mr. Mandelli
in July, are of precisely the same type. They are rather elongated
ovals, a good deal pointed towards the small end, near which they
are not unfrequently a good deal compressed, so as to render the egg
slightly pyriform. The shell is fine and smooth, but has little gloss.
The ground-colour is a very pale greenish blue or bluish green, in
some almost white; some of them are absolutely spotless, none of them
are at all well marked, but some bear from half a dozen to a dozen
tiny specks of a dark colour. On one only there is a triangular spot
about 0·05 each way, which proves on examination with a microscope
to be a deep brownish red. On the other eggs the markings are mere
specks.
The eggs vary from 1·25 to 1·35 in length, and from 0·89 to 0·92 in breadth.
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