The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 5

Garrulus leucotis, _Hume, Hume, Cat._ no. 669 bis.

The nest of this Jay has not yet been found, but Capt. Bingham writes:--

"Like Mr. Davison I have found this very handsome Jay affecting only the dry _Dillenia_ and pine-forests so common in the Thoungyeen valley. I have seen it feeding on the ground in such places with _Gecinus nigrigenys, Upupa longirostris_, and other birds. I shot one specimen, a female, in April, near the Meplay river, that must have had a nest somewhere, which, however, I failed to find, for she had a full-formed but sh.e.l.l-less egg inside her."

26. Garrulus bispecularis, Vigors. _The Himalayan Jay_.

Garrulus bispecularis, _Vig., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 307; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 669.

The Himalayan Jay breeds pretty well throughout the lower ranges of the Himalayas. It is nowhere, that I have seen, numerically very abundant, but it is to be met with everywhere. It lays in March and April, and, though I have never taken the nest myself, I have now repeatedly had it sent me. It builds at moderate heights, rarely above 25 feet from the ground, in trees or thick shrubs, at elevations of from 3000 to 7000 feet. The nest is a moderate-sized one, 6 to 8 inches in external diameter, composed of fine twigs and gra.s.s, and lined with finer gra.s.s and roots.

The nest is usually placed in a fork.

The eggs are four to six in number.

Mr. Hodgson notes that he "found a nest" of this species "on the 20th April, in the forest of Shewpoori, at an elevation of 7000 feet. The nest was placed in the midst of a large tree in a fork. The nest was very shallow, but regularly formed and compact. It was composed of long seeding gra.s.ses wound round and round, and lined with finer and more elastic gra.s.s-stems. The nest measured about 6 inches in diameter, but the cavity was only about half an inch deep."

Colonel C.H.T. Marshall remarks:--"I only took one authenticated set of eggs of this species (I found several with young), as it is an early breeder--I say authenticated eggs, because I _think_ we may have attributed some to _Garrulus lanceolatus_, as the nests and eggs are very similar, and having a large number of the eggs of the latter, I took some from my shikaree without verifying them.

"The nest I took on the 6th May, 1873, at Murree, was at an elevation, I should say, of between 6500 and 7000 feet (as it was near the top of the hill), in the forest. The tree selected was a horse-chestnut, about 25 feet high. The nest was near the top, which is the case with nearly all the Crows' and Magpies' nests that I have taken. It was of loose construction, made of twigs and fibres, and contained five partially incubated eggs.

"The eggs are similar to those of _G. lanceolatus_. I have carefully compared the five of the species which I am now describing with twenty of the other, and find that the following differences exist. The egg of _G. bispecularis_ is more obtuse and broader, there is a brighter gloss on it, and the speckling is more marked; but with a large series of each I think the only perceptible difference would be its greater breadth, which makes the egg look larger than that of the Black-throated Jay. My four eggs measure 115 by 085 each.

"This species only breeds once in a year, and from my observations lays in April, all the young being hatched by the 15th May. Captain c.o.c.k and myself carefully hunted up all the forests round Murree, where the birds were constantly to be seen, commencing our work after the 10th May, and we found nothing but young ones."

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"I have found nests of this species for the first time this year; the first on the 22nd of May, by which time, as all recorded evidence shows it to be an early breeder, I had given up all hopes of getting eggs. The first nest contained two fresh eggs; it was on a horizontal limb of a large oak, at a bifurcation about eight feet from the trunk and about the same from the ground.

The nest was more substantial than that of _G. lanceolatus_, much more moss having been used in the outer casing, but the lining was similar; it was a misshapen nest, and appeared, in the distance, like an old deserted one; the bird was sitting at the time; I took one egg, hoping more would be laid, but the other was deserted and destroyed by vermin. Another nest I found on the 2nd June; it contained three eggs just so much incubated that it is probable no more would be laid; this nest was much neater in construction and better concealed than the former one; it was in a rhododendron tree, in a bend about ten feet from the ground, between two branches upwards of a foot each in diameter, and covered with moss and dead fern; the tree grew out of a precipitous bank just below a road, and though the nest was on the level of the edge it was almost impossible to detect it; it was a very compact thick cup of roots covered with moss outside. The eggs were larger, more elongated, and much more richly coloured than in the first nest. Both nests were at about 7000 feet elevation, and in both instances the bird sat very close."

The eggs of this species are, as might be expected, very similar to those of _G. lanceolatus_, but they are perhaps slightly larger, and the markings somewhat coa.r.s.er. The eggs are rather broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards one end. The ground-colour is pale greenish white, and they are pretty finely freckled and speckled (most densely so towards the large end, where the markings are almost confluent) with dull, rather pale, olive-brown, amongst which a little speckling and clouding of pale greyish purple is observable. The eggs are decidedly smaller than those of the English Jay, and few of the specimens I have exhibit any of those black hair-like lines often noticeable in both the English Jay and _G. lanceolatus_.

In length the eggs that I have measured varied from 11 to 121, and in breadth they only varied from 084 to 087.

27. Nucifraga hemispila, Vigors. _The Himalayan Nutcracker_.

Nucifraga hemispila, _Vig., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 304; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 666.

The Himalayan Nutcracker is _very_ common in the fir-clad hills north of Simla, where it particularly affects forests of the so-called pencil cedar, which is, I think, the _Pinus excelsa_. I have never been able to obtain the eggs, for they must lay in March or early in April; but I have found the nest near f.a.goo early in May with nearly full-fledged young ones, and my people have taken them with young in April below the Jalouri Pa.s.s.

The tree where I found the nest is, or rather _was_ (for the whole hill-slope has been denuded for potatoe cultivation), situated on a steeply sloping hill facing the south, at an elevation of about 6500 feet. The nest was about 50 feet from the ground, and placed on _two_ side branches just where, about 6 inches apart, they shot out of the trunk. The nest was just like a Crow's--a broad platform of sticks, but rather more neatly built, and with a number of green juniper twigs with a little moss and a good deal of grey lichen intermingled. The nest was about 11 inches across and nearly 4 inches in external height. There was a broad, shallow, central depression 5 or 6 inches in diameter and perhaps 2 inches in depth, of which an inch was filled in with a profuse lining of gra.s.s and fir-needles (the long ones of _Pinus longifolia_) and a little moss. This was found on the 11th May, and the young, four in number, were sufficiently advanced to hop out to the ends of the bough and half-fly half-tumble into the neighbouring trees, when my man with much difficulty got up to the nest.

29. Graculus eremita (Linn.). _The Red-billed Chough_.

Fregilus himalaya.n.u.s, _Gould, Jerd. B.I._ ii, p. 319.

Mr. Mandelli obtained three eggs of this species from Chumbi in Thibet; they were taken on the 8th of May from a nest under the eaves of a high wooden house.

Though larger than those of the European Chough, they resemble them so closely that there can be no doubt as to their authenticity.

In shape the eggs are moderately elongated ovals, very slightly compressed towards the small end. The sh.e.l.l is tolerably fine and has a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white with a faint creamy tinge, and the whole egg is profusely spotted and striated with a pale, somewhat yellowish brown and a very pale purplish grey. The markings are most dense at the large end, and there, too, the largest streaks of the grey occur.

One egg measures 174 by 12.

Subfamily PARINAE.

31. Parus atriceps, Horsf. _The Indian Grey t.i.t_.

Parus cinereus, _Vieill, Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 278.

Parus caesius, _Tick., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 645.

The Indian Grey t.i.t breeds throughout the more wooded mountains of the Indian Empire, wherever these attain an alt.i.tude of 5000 feet, at elevations of from 4000 or 5000 to even (where the hills exceed this height) 9000 feet.

In the Himalayas the breeding-season extends from the end of March to the end of June, or even a little later, according to the season. They have two broods--the first clutch of eggs is generally laid in the last week of March or early in April; the second towards the end of May or during the first half of June.

In the Nilghiris they lay from February to May, and _probably_ a second time in September or October.

The nests are placed in holes in banks, in walls of buildings or of terraced fields, in outhouses of dwellings or deserted huts and houses, and in holes in trees, and very frequently in those cut in some previous year for their own nests by Barbets and Woodp.e.c.k.e.rs.

Occasionally it builds _on_ a branch of a tree, and my friend Sir E.C.

Buck, C.S., found a nest containing six half-set eggs thus situated on the 19th June at Gowra. It was on a "Banj" tree 10 feet from the ground.

The only nest that I have myself seen in such a situation was a pretty large pad of soft moss, slightly saucer-shaped, about 4 inches in diameter, with a slight depression on the upper surface, which was everywhere thinly coated with sheep's wool and the fine white silky hair of some animal. The nest is usually a shapeless ma.s.s of downy fur, cattle-hair, and even feathers and wool, but when on a branch is strengthened exteriorly with moss. Even when in holes, they sometimes round the nest into a more or less regular though shallow cup, and use a good deal of moss or a little gra.s.s or gra.s.s-roots; but as a rule the hairs of soft and downy fur const.i.tute the chief material, and this is picked out by the birds, I believe, from the dung of the various cats, polecats, and ferrets so common in all our hills.

I have never found more than six eggs, and often smaller numbers, more or less incubated.

Mr. Brooks tells us that the Indian Grey t.i.t is "common at Almorah.

In April and May I found the nest two or three times in holes in terrace-walls. It was composed of gra.s.s-roots and feathers, and contained in each case nearly fully-grown young, five in number."

From Dhurmsala Captain c.o.c.k wrote:--"_Parus cinereus_ built in the walls of Dr. C.'s stables this year. When I found the nest it contained young ones. I watched the parents flying in and out, but to make sure put my ear to the wall and could hear the young ones chirrupping. The nest was found in the early part of May 1869."

Colonel Butler writes:--"Belgaum, 12th June, 1879. A nest built in a hollow bamboo which supported the roof of a house in the native infantry lines. I did not see the nest myself, as unfortunately the old bird was captured on it, and the nest and eggs destroyed; however, the hen bird was brought to me alive by the man who caught her, and I saw at once, by the bare breast, that she had been sitting, and on making enquiries the above facts were elicited. The broken egg-sh.e.l.ls were white thickly spotted with rusty red.

"Belgaum, 8th June, 1880.--A nest in a hole of a tree about 7 feet from the ground, containing five fresh eggs. The nest consisted of a dense pad of fur (goat-hair, cow-hair, human hair, and hare's fur mixed) with a few feathers intermixed, laid on the top of a small quant.i.ty of dry gra.s.s and moss, which formed the foundation."

Lieut. H.E. Barnes notes from Chaman in Afghanistan:--"This t.i.t is very common, and remains with us all the year round. I found a nest on the 10th April, built in a hole in a tree; it was composed entirely of sheep's wool, and contained three incubated eggs, white, with light red blotches, forming a zone at the larger end. They measured 69 by 48."

Mr. Benjamin Aitken says:--

"When I was in Poona, in the hot season of 1873, the Grey t.i.ts, which are very common there, became exceedingly busy about the end of May, courting with all their spirit, and examining every hole they could find. One was seen to disappear up the mouth of a cannon at the a.r.s.enal. Finally, in July, two nests with young birds were discovered, one by myself, and one by my brother. The nests were in the roofs of houses, and were not easily accessible, but the parent birds were watched a.s.siduously carrying food to the hungry brood, which kept up a screaming almost equal to that of a nest of minahs. On the 27th July a young one was picked up that had escaped too soon from a third nest.

The Indian Grey t.i.t does not occur in Bombay, and I never saw it in Berar."

Speaking of Southern India Mr. Davison remarks that "the Grey t.i.t breeds in holes either of trees or banks; when it builds in trees it very often (whenever it can apparently) takes possession of the deserted nest-hole of _Megaloema viridis_; when in banks a rat-hole is not uncommonly chosen. All the nests I have ever seen or taken were composed in every single instance of fur obtained from the dried droppings of wild cats."