The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 11

Trochalopteron cachinnans (_Jerd.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 48; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 423.

The Nilghiri Laughing-Thrush breeds, according to my many informants, throughout the more elevated portions of the mountains from which it derives its trivial name, from February to the beginning of June.

A nest of this species sent me by Mr. H.R.P. Carter, who took it at c.o.o.noor on April 22nd (when it contained two fresh eggs), is externally a rather coa.r.s.e clumsy structure, composed of roots, dead leaves, small twigs, and a little lichen, about 5 inches in diameter, and standing about 4 inches high. The egg-cavity is, however, very regularly shaped, and neatly lined with very fine gra.s.s-stems and a little fine tow-like vegetable fibre. It is a deep cup, measuring 2 inches across and fully 3 inches in depth.

A nest taken by Miss c.o.c.kburn was a much more compact structure, placed between four or five twigs. It was composed of coa.r.s.e gra.s.s, dead and skeleton leaves, a very little lichen, and a quant.i.ty of moss. The egg-cavity was lined with very fine gra.s.s. The nest was externally about 5 inches in diameter and nearly 6 inches in height, but the egg-cavity had a diameter of only about 2 inches and was only about 2 inches deep.

It was Jerdon, I believe, who gave the name of Laughing-Thrushes to this group, and this name is applicable enough to this particular bird, the one with which he was most familiar, for it does _laugh_--albeit, a most maniacal laugh; but the majority of the group have not the shadow of a giggle even in them, and should have been designated "Screaming Squabblers."

Mr. J. Darling, Jr., says:--"This bird breeds from February to May.

I have found the nests all over the Nilghiris, at elevations of from 4500 to 7500 feet above the sea. The nest is placed indiscriminately in any bush or tree that happens to take the bird's fancy, at heights of from 3 to 12 feet from the ground.

"In shape it is circular, a deep cup, externally some 6 inches in diameter and 5 or 6 inches in height, and with a cavity 3 to 4 inches wide and often fully 4 inches in depth. The nest is composed of moss and small twigs, at times of gra.s.s mingled with some spiders' webs: sometimes there is a foundation of dead leaves. The cavity is lined with fur, cotton-wool, feathers, &c.

"The eggs are two or three in number."

Mr. Wait, writing from c.o.o.noor, says:--"_T. cachinnans_ breeds about May, and lays from three to five oval eggs. The ground is bluish, with ash-coloured and brown spots and blotches, and occasionally marks."

None of my other correspondents, however, admit that the bird ever lays more than three eggs.

Mr. Davison tells me that "this bird breeds commonly on the Nilghiris, just before the rains set in, in May and the earlier part of June, but it occasionally breeds earlier (in April) or later (in the latter end of June). The nest is cup-shaped, composed of dead leaves, moss, gra.s.s, &c., and lined with a few moss-roots or fine gra.s.s. It is placed in the fork of a branch about 6 or 8 feet from the ground. The eggs are a bluish green, mottled chiefly towards the larger end, and sometimes also streaked with purplish brown. The normal number of eggs is two; sometimes, however, three are laid."

From Kotagherry, Miss c.o.c.kburn remarks:--"The name 'Laughing-Thrush'

is most applicable to this bird, and its notes are often mistaken for the sound of the human voice. This bird is very shy, except when its nest contains eggs or young, when it becomes extremely bold. I was quite surprised to see a pair whose nest I was taking come so close as to induce me to put out my hand to catch them. The Laughing-Thrush builds a pretty, though large, nest, and generally selects the forked branches of a thick bush, and commences its nest with a large quant.i.ty of moss, after which there is a lining of fine gra.s.s and roots, and the withered fibrous covering of the Peruvian Cherry (_Physalis peruviana_), the nest being finished with a few feathers, in general belonging to the bird. The inside of the nest is perfectly round, and rarely contains more than two eggs, belonging to the owner. The eggs are of a beautiful greenish-blue colour, with a few large and small brown blotches and streaks, mostly at the large end. I have found the nests of these birds in February, March, and April. Occasionally the Black-and-white Crested Cuckoo, which appears on these hills in the month of March, deposits its eggs (two in number) in the nest of this Thrush. They are easily distinguished, as their colour is quite different from the Thrush's eggs, being entirely dark bluish green."

Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan writing from South India, says, in 'The Ibis':--"It builds a very neat nest of moss, dried leaves, and the outer husk of the fruit of the Brazil Cherry, lined with feathers, bits of fur, and other soft substances. The nest is cup-shaped, and generally contains three eggs, most peculiarly marked with blotches, streaks, and wavy lines of a dark claret-colour on a light blue ground. The markings are almost always at the larger end."

The first specimens that I obtained of the eggs of this species were kindly sent to me by the late Captain Mitch.e.l.l and Mr. H.R.P. Carter of Madras; they were taken on the Nilghiris. They are moderately broad ovals, somewhat pointed towards one end, larger than the average eggs of _T. lineatum_, and about the same size as large specimens of the eggs of _Crateropus canorus_ and _Argya malcolmi_. The ground-colour is of a delicate pale blue, and towards the large end, and sometimes over the whole surface, they are speckled, spotted, and blotched, but only sparingly, with brownish red and blackish brown, and amongst these markings a few cloudy streaks and spots of dull faint reddish purple are observable. The eggs have not much gloss.

Numerous other specimens subsequently received from Miss c.o.c.kburn and others correspond well with the above description. More or less pyriform varieties are common. In some eggs the markings are almost entirely wanting, there being only a very faint brownish-pink freckling at the large end; and in many eggs, even some that are profusely spotted all over, the markings consist only of darker or lighter brownish-pink shades. Occasionally a few, almost black, twisted lines are intermingled with the other markings, and in these cases the lines are frequently surrounded by a reddish-purple nimbus.

The eggs vary in length from 092 to 108, and in breadth from 074 to 08, but the average of twenty eggs measured was 10 by 076.

96. Trochalopterum fairbanki, Blanf. _The Palni Laughing-Thrush_.

Trochalopterum fairbanki, _Blanf., Hume, Cat._ no. 423 bis.

The Rev. S.B. Fairbank, the discoverer of this species, found its nest at Kodai Ka.n.a.l, in the Palni Hills, in May. The nest was placed in the crotch of a tree, at about 10 feet from the ground, and at an elevation of nearly 6500 feet above the level of the sea. The eggs are moderately elongated ovals, with a fine, fairly glossy sh.e.l.l. The ground is pale greenish blue or bluish green; the markings are spots, small blotches, hair-lines, and hieroglyphic-like scrawls, rather thinly scattered about the surface, and varying in colour through several shades of brownish and reddish purple to bright claret-colour.

The only egg I have measures 1 inch in length by 08 inch in breadth.

99. Trochalopterum lineatum (Vig.). _The Himalayan Streaked Laughing-Thrush_.

Trochalopteron lineatum (_Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 50; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 425[A].

[Footnote A: 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 Simla, 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 favourite. 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 gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s-roots, or occasionally very fine gra.s.s. The cavity varies from 3 inches to 35 in diameter, and from 225 inches to 275 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 55 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 neighbourhood 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 coa.r.s.e gra.s.s, and not unfrequently in exposed and well-frequented places; it is loosely and rather slovenly constructed of coa.r.s.e dry gra.s.ses and stalks externally, lined sometimes with fine gra.s.s, 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 Nynee Tal 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 gra.s.s, and lined with finer gra.s.s. 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 gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s-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 Mutianee, three marches north of Simla, 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 gra.s.s 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 quant.i.ty of oak-leaves, and lined with gra.s.s-roots."

The eggs, of which I must have seen some hundreds, as this is the commonest Laughing-Thrush about both Mussoorie and Simla, 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 a.s.sociated with species like _T. cachinnans, T. variegatum_, and _T. erythrocephalum_, which all have spotted eggs.

In length the eggs vary from 08 to 113, and in breadth from 063 to 08; but the average of fifty-eight eggs carefully measured is 101 by 073.

101. Grammatoptila striata (Vig.). _The Striated Laughing-Thrush_.

Grammatoptila striata (_Vig.), Jerd. 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 coa.r.s.e roots and broken pieces of dry gra.s.s. 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, &c. 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 sh.e.l.l 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 13 and 132 in length, and 089 and 092 in breadth.

From Sikhim, 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 75 inches broad by 525 inches deep; internally 4 inches by 275 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 a.s.signed in stating the dimensions above. The cavities are not quite hemispherical, a little shallower, say 45 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 sh.e.l.l 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 005 each way, which proves on examination with a microscope to be a deep brownish red. On the other eggs the markings are mere specks.