The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 20

169. Stachyrhis nigriceps, Hodgs. _The Black-throated Babbler_.

Stachyris nigriceps, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p, 21; _Hume. Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 391.

I have never taken a nest of this species, the Black-throated Babbler, but Mr. Gammie, a careful observer, in whose neighbourhood (Rungbee, near Darjeeling) this bird is very abundant, has taken many nests, two of which he has sent me, with many eggs.

One nest, found at Rishap, on the 14th May, at an elevation of about 4000 feet, contained four nearly fresh eggs. It was a very loose structure, a shallow cup of about 3 inches in diameter, composed of fine gra.s.s-stems without any lining, and coated externally with broad coa.r.s.e gra.s.s-blades.

Another nest taken low down in the valley, at about an elevation of 2000 feet, on the 17th June, contained three fresh eggs. It was placed in a bank at the foot of a shrub. Like the previous one, it was a loose but rather deeper cup, interiorly composed of moderately fine gra.s.s, exteriorly of dead leaves. The egg-cavity measured about 2 inches in diameter, and 1 inch in depth. _In situ_, both probably were more or less domed, the cups more or less overhung by a hood or canopy.

Mr. Gammie remarks:--"I have seen numerous nests of this species in former years, and have found two this season, but have never seen eggs with 'faint darker spots' as mentioned by Jerdon. Hodgson's description is quite correct. The eggs are a 'pale fawn-colour'

_before they are blown_, the sh.e.l.ls being so translucent that the yolk shows through partially. The sh.e.l.l is pure white in itself. The cavity of the cup-shaped part of one nest beside me is 2 inches deep by 2 inches wide; outer dimensions 5 inches deep (from top of hood) by 4 inches wide across the face of entrance. It is loosely though neatly made of bamboo-leaves and fern, lined with dry gra.s.s. The bird breeds in May and June, and lays four or five eggs."

Mr. Eugene Gates tells us that he "procured only one specimen of this bird, and that was in the evergreen forests of the Pegu Hills. I shot it off the nest on the 29th April. The nest was on a bank of a nullah well concealed among dead leaves, about 2 feet above the bottom of the bank. The nest is domed, about 7 inches in height and 5 inches in diameter externally, with the entrance at the side near the top. The outside is a ma.s.s of bamboo-leaves very loose, being in no way bound together; each leaf is curled to the shape of the nest. The inside, a thin lining only of vegetable fibres. There were three eggs, just on the point of hatching; colour, pure white."

The Black-throated Babbler breeds, according to Mr. Hodgson, in April and May, and builds a large deep cup-shaped nest, either upon the ground in the midst of gra.s.s, or at a short distance above the ground between five or six thin twigs; a nest which he measured was externally 45 inches in diameter and 35 in height, while the cavity was 25 in diameter and 2 in depth. The nest is composed of dry bamboo- and other leaves wound together with gra.s.s and moss-roots, and lined with these, and is a very firm compact structure, considering the materials. They lay four or five eggs, which are figured as very regular rather broad ovals, of a nearly uniform, very pale _cafe-au-lait_ colour (these were the _unblown_ eggs), measuring about 075 by 058.

Dr. Jerdon remarks:--"A nest and eggs were brought to me at Darjeeling, and said to be of this species. The nest was rather large, very loosely made of bamboo-leaves and fibres, and the eggs were of a pale salmon-colour, with some faint darker spots."

There is no doubt that these must have been the eggs of some other species.

Major C.T. Bingham tells us:--"This little bird, though not at all common, breeds in the Sinzaway Reserve, in Tena.s.serim. I took five hard-set eggs, placed in a beautiful little domed nest, at the foot of a clump of bamboos, on the bank of a dry choung or nullah. This was on the 20th March. The nest was composed exteriorly of dry bamboo-leaves, and interiorly of fine gra.s.s-roots, the entrance being on one side. I shot the female as she crept off the nest."

It does not seem that in the Himalayas this species domes its nest.

Numerous other nests that have been sent me from Sikhim, taken in May, June, and July, were all of the same type--shallow or deeper cups loosely put together, exteriorly composed of coa.r.s.e blades of gra.s.s, dead leaves, bamboo-spathes and the like, held together with a little vegetable fibre or fibrous roots, and interiorly of fine gra.s.s generally more or less mingled with blackish roots, which in some nests greatly predominate over the gra.s.s.

The eggs are broad ovals, somewhat compressed towards one end, in some cases slightly pyriform. They are pure white, spotless, and fairly glossy.

They vary from 068 to 084 in length, and from 055 to 061 in breadth, but the average of thirty-four eggs is 076 by somewhat over 058.

170. Stachyrhis chrysaea, Hodgs. _The Golden-headed Babbler_.

Stachyris chrysaea, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 22; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 394.

Mr. Blyth remarks:--"The egg, as figured by Mr. Hodgson, is pinkish white, and the nest domed and placed on the summit of a sedge. _S.

praecognita_ lays a blue egg." (Ibis, 1866, p. 309.)

There is no figure of either the nest or eggs of the Golden-headed Babbler amongst the drawings of Mr. Hodgson that I possess.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took a nest of this bird out of a large forest, at 5000 feet elevation, on the 15th May. It is of an oval shape, neatly made of small bamboo-leaves only, devoid of lining, and was fixed vertically between a few upright sprays, within two feet of the ground. It measures externally 525 inches in height by 4 in diameter; internally 15 in depth, from lip of egg-cavity, by 175 in diameter. The entrance is also 175 across.

"The eggs were four in number; three of them well set and the fourth quite fresh. The set eggs were altogether pure white, but the fresh egg, unblown, was of a pinky-white colour with a pure white cap; when blown it exactly resembled the others."

The eggs sent as pertaining to this species by Mr. Gammie are very regular ovals, pure white, and somewhat glossy, but they are so small that I can scarcely credit their really belonging to this species.

Their cubit contents are not half those of the average eggs of _S.

nigriceps_. They measure 063 by 048.

172. Stachyrhidopsis ruficeps, Bl. _The Red-headed Babbler_.

Stachyris ruficeps, _Bl., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 22; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 393.

The Red-headed Babbler breeds in Nepal, according to Mr. Hodgson, from April to June, building a large ma.s.sive cup-shaped nest amongst bamboos, as a rule, at heights of from 7 to 10 feet from the ground.

The nest is wedged in between half a dozen or more creepers and shoots, and is composed almost exclusively of dry bamboo-leaves neatly, but rather loosely, interwoven, and lined also with these leaves. One which he measured was rather oval in shape, 525 inches in diameter one way, by 4 the other, and 36 in height. The leaves used in the rim of the cup were projected a little inwards, so as to make the mouth of the cavity a little smaller than the diameter of this latter within. The diameter of the mouth was 2 inches, that of the cavity 25, and the latter is about 15 deep. Four eggs are laid, a sort of brownish white, speckled and spotted with brown or reddish brown. The egg figured measures 07 by 052, and is a moderately broad, regular oval.

Dr. Jerdon says:--"A nest and eggs, said to be of this species, were brought to me at Darjeeling. The nest was a loose structure of gra.s.s and fibres, and contained two eggs of a greenish-white colour with some rusty spots."

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took two nests of this Babbler in April; one of them at an elevation of 3500 feet, the other at 5000 feet, but it no doubt breeds also both lower and higher. They are of a neat egg-shape, with entrance at side, and were fixed vertically between a few upright sprays, within three feet of the ground, in open situations near large trees. Mr. Hodgson evidently did not take the one he describes with his own hands, for he places it horizontally, which gives a height of 36 inches only. The external dimensions are about 55 inches in height and 4 in diameter. Internally the diameter is 2 inches, and the depth, from roof, 325. The entrance is 2 across.

They are composed of dry bamboo-leaves only, put neatly and firmly together, and are lined with a very few gra.s.sy fibres. They each contained four well-set eggs."

Mr. Mandelli, however, took a nest of this species at Lebong on the 23rd June, in the middle of a tea-bush which grew at the side of a small ravine, which was neither hooded nor domed. The nest was about 18 inches from the ground and completely sheltered from above by tea-leaves. It was a deep cup composed externally chiefly of bamboo-leaves, but with a good many dead leaves of trees incorporated in the base, and lined with very fine gra.s.s-stems. It contained four fresh eggs. It is quite clear that this species, like _S. nigriceps_, only domes its nest in certain situations.

The eggs obtained by Mr. Gammie and Mr. Mandelli are very regular, slightly elongated ovals. The sh.e.l.l is very fine and compact, but has only a faint gloss. The ground is white and round the larger end is a zone or imperfect cap of specks and spots of brownish red, generally intermingled with tiny spots, usually very faint, of pale purple. A few specks and spots brown, yellowish, or reddish brown, and sometimes also pale purple, are scattered about the rest of the egg.

In length the eggs vary from 064 to 072, and in breadth from 050 to 053, but the average of eight eggs was 068 by 052 nearly.

174. Stachyrhidopsis pyrrhops, Hodgs. _The Red-billed Babbler_.

Stachyris pyrrhops, _Hodgs. Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 21; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 392.

Accounts differ somewhat as to the eggs of the Red-billed Babbler.

From Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall writes:--"Nest found in low ground, about 100 yards from the River Jheelum, situated in a low bush, externally composed of broad dry reed-leaves, and interiorly of fine gra.s.s, cup-shaped. Eggs, four in number, long oval, white, with a few reddish specks at the larger end. Length 7, breadth 5. Lays in the latter end of June, 4000 feet up."

The nest, which he kindly sent me, is a deep cup, coa.r.s.ely made interiorly of gra.s.s-stems, externally of broad blades of gra.s.s, in which a few dead leaves are incorporated; there is no lining.

Exteriorly the nest is about 35 inches in diameter, and about 3 in depth; the egg-cavity is a little more than 2 inches in diameter, and fully 175 in depth.

Mr. Hodgson "found the nest" of this species in Nepal, "at an elevation of about 6000 feet, in shrubby upland." It was "placed in a small shrub about 2 feet from the ground." It was "a very deep cup, about 4 inches in length, and 25 in diameter externally, placed obliquely endwise upon cross-stems of the shrub, and opening, as it were obliquely, upwards at one end," the cavity being about 15 in diameter. The nest was made of "dry leaves and gra.s.s pretty compactly woven." The nest "contained four eggs," which are described as "whitish, with spare and faint fawn-coloured spots," and are figured as measuring 065 by 047.

Captain Hutton says:--"This is a common species both in the Dhoon and in the hills, and may be found at all seasons, making known its presence among the brushwood by the utterance of a clear and musical note like the ringing of a tiny bell. In the winter time it is often mixed up with flocks composed of _Siva strigula_ and _Liothriae luteus_, creeping among the bushes like the _Pari_ and _Phylloscopi_.

It constructs its nest at the base of bushes, the eggs being three in number, of a faint greenish grey, thickly irrorated with small reddish-brown specks. The nest is composed of dry gra.s.s-blades externally, within which is a layer of fine woody stalks and fibres, and lined with black hair. It is cup-shaped, and placed upon a thick bed of dried leaves, which are most probably acc.u.mulated beneath the bush by the wind. One nest was taken at Dehra, in a garden, on the 30th July, and others at Mussoorie about the same time."

But the eggs sent by Captain Hutton clearly do not, I think, pertain to this species. Those taken by Colonel Marshall are certainly genuine, and are considerably larger and very differently coloured eggs.

In shape they are moderately broad ovals, some of them slightly compressed towards the small end. The sh.e.l.l is very fine and smooth, but with scarcely any gloss; the ground is pure white, and they are thinly speckled and spotted, the markings being much more numerous about the large end, where they have a tendency to form an ill-defined cap or zone with brownish red or pinky brown.

In length they vary from 062 to 069, and in breadth from 05 to 052.

175. Cyanoderma erythropterum (Blyth). _The Red-winged Babbler_.

Cyanoderma erythropterum, _Bl., Hume, cat._ no. 396 bis.

Mr. W. Davison found the nest of the Red-winged Babbler at Bankasoon on the 23rd April, just when he was leaving the place. Unfortunately the birds had not yet laid. The nest was a ball composed of dry reed-leaves, about 6 inches in diameter. Externally, with a circular aperture on one side, very like that of _Mixornis rubricapillus_ and of _Dumetia_, and again not at all unlike that of _Ochromela nigrorufa_, but placed in a bush about 4 feet high and not on the ground.