The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 6

From Kotagherry, Miss c.o.c.kburn sends the following interesting note:--

"Their nests are found in deep holes in earth-banks, and sometimes in stone walls. Once a pair took possession of a bamboo in one of our thatched out-houses--the safest place they could have chosen, as no hand could get into the small hole by which they entered. These t.i.ts show great affection and care for their young. While hatching their eggs, if a hand or stick is put into the nest they rise with enlarged throats, and, hissing like a snake, peck at it till it is withdrawn.

On one occasion I told my horse-keeper to put his hand into a hole into which I had seen one of these birds enter. He did so, but soon drew it out with a scream, saying a 'snake had bit him.' I told him to try again, but with no better success; he would not attempt it the third time, so the nest was left with the bold little proprietor, who no doubt rejoiced to find she had succeeded in frightening away the unwelcome intruder. The materials used by these birds for their nests consist of soft hair, downy feathers, and moss, all of which they collect in large quant.i.ties. They build in the months of February and March; but I once found a nest of young Indian Grey t.i.ts so late as the 10th November. They lay six eggs, white with light red spots. On one occasion I saw a nest in a bank by the side of the road; when the only young bird it contained was nearly fledged the road had to be widened, and workmen were employed in cutting down the bank. The poor parent birds appeared to be perfectly aware that their nest would soon be reached, and after trying in vain to persuade the young one to come out, they pushed it down into the road but could get it no further, though they did their utmost to take it out of the reach of danger. I placed it among the bushes above the road, and then the parents seemed to be immediately conscious of its safety."

Mr. H.R.P. Carter notes that he "found a nest of the Grey t.i.t at c.o.o.noor, on the Nilgiris, on the 15th May. It was placed in a hole in a bank by the roadside. It was a flat pad, composed of the fur of the hill-hare, hairs of cattle, &c., and was fluffy and without consistence. It contained three half-set eggs."

Mr. J. Darling, Jun., says:--"I have found the nests at Ooty, c.o.o.noor, Neddivattam, and Kartary, at all heights from 5000 to nearly 8000 feet above the sea, on various dates between 17th February and 10th May.

"It builds in banks, or holes in trees, at all heights from the ground, from 3 to 30 feet. It is fond of taking possession of the old nest-holes of the Green Woodp.e.c.k.e.r. The nest is built of fur or fur and moss, and always lined with fine fur, generally that of hares. Its shape depends upon that of the hole in which it is placed, but the egg-cavity or depression is about 3 inches in diameter and an inch in depth.

"It lays four, five, and sometimes six eggs, but I think more commonly only four."

Dr. Jerdon remarks:--"I once found its nest in a deserted bungalow at Kallia, in the corner of the house. It was made chiefly of the down of hares (_Lepus nigricollis_), mixed with feathers, and contained six eggs, white spotted with rusty red."

The eggs resemble in their general character those of many of our English t.i.ts, and though, I think, typically slightly longer, they appear to me to be very close to those of _Parus pal.u.s.tris_. In shape they are a broad oval, but somewhat elongated and pointed towards the small end. The ground-colour is pinkish white, and round the large end there is a conspicuous, though irregular and imperfect, zone of red blotches, spots, and streaks. Spots and specks of the same colour, or occasionally of a pale purple, are scantily sprinkled over the rest of the surface of the egg, and are most numerous in the neighbourhood of the zone. The eggs have a faint gloss. Some eggs do not exhibit the zone above referred to, but even in these the markings are much more numerous and dense towards the large end.

In length the eggs vary from 065 to 078, and in breadth from 05 to 058; but the average of thirty-eight is 071 by 054, so that they are really, as indeed they look _as a body_, a shade shorter and decidedly broader than those of _P. monticola_.

34. Parus monticola, Vig. _The Green-backed t.i.t_.

Parus monticolus, _Vig., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 277; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 644.

The Green-backed t.i.t breeds through the Himalayas, at elevations of from 4000 to 7000 or 8000 feet.

The breeding-season lasts from March to June, and some birds at any rate must have two broods, since I found three fresh eggs in the wall of the Pownda dak bungalow about the 20th June. More eggs are, however, to be got in April than in any other month.

They build in holes, in trees, bamboos, walls, and even banks, but walls receive, I think, the preference.

The nests are loose dense ma.s.ses of soft downy fur or feathers, with more or less moss, according to the situation.

The eggs vary from six to eight, and I have repeatedly found seven and eight young ones; but Captain Beavan has found only five of these latter, and although I consider from six to eight the normal complement, I believe they very often fail to complete the full number.

Captain Beavan says:--"At Simla, on May 4th, 1866, I found a nest of this species in the wall of one of my servant's houses. It contained five young ones, and was composed of fine grey pushm or wool resting on an understructure of moss."

At Murree Colonel C.H.T. Marshall notes that this species "breeds early in May in holes in walls and trees, laying white eggs covered with red spots."

Speaking of a nest he took at Dhurmsala, Captain c.o.c.k says:--

"The nest was in a cavity of a rhododendron tree, and was a large ma.s.s of down of some animal; it looked like rabbit's fur, which of course it was not, but it was some dark, soft, dense fur. The nest contained seven eggs, and was found on the 28th April, 1869. The eggs were all fresh."

Mr. Gammie says:--"I got one nest of this t.i.t here on the 14th May in the Chinchona reserves (Sikhim), at an elevation of about 4500 feet.

It was in partially cleared country, in a natural hole of a stump, about 5 feet from the ground. The nest was made of moss and lined with soft matted hair; but I pulled it out of the hole carelessly and cannot say whether it had originally any defined shape. It contained four hard-set eggs."

The eggs are very like those of _Parus atriceps_; but they are somewhat longer and more slender, and as a rule are rather more thickly and richly marked.

They are moderately broad ovals, sometimes almost perfectly symmetrical, at times slightly pointed towards one end, and almost entirely devoid of gloss. The ground is white, or occasionally a delicate pinkish white, in some richly and profusely spotted and blotched, in others more or less thickly speckled and spotted with darker or lighter shades of blood-, brick-, slightly purplish-, or brownish-red, as the case may be. The markings are much denser towards the large end, where in some eggs they form an imperfect and irregular cap. In size they vary from 068 to 076 in length, and from 049 to 054 in breadth; but the average of thirty-two eggs is 072 by 052 nearly.

35. Aegithaliscus erythrocephalus (Vig.). _Red-headed t.i.t_.

Aegithaliscus erythrocephalus (_Vig._) _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 270; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 634.

The Red-headed t.i.t breeds throughout the Himalayas from Murree to Bhootan, at elevations of from 6000 to 9000 or perhaps 10,000 feet.

They commence breeding very early. I have known nests to be taken quite at the beginning of March, and they continue laying till the end of May.

The nest is, I think, most commonly placed in low stunted hill-oak bushes, either suspended between several twigs, to all of which it is more or less attached, or wedged into a fork. _I have_ found the nest in a deodar tree, _laid_ on a horizontal bough. I have seen them in tufts of gra.s.s, in banks and other unusual situations; but the great bulk build in low bushes, and of these the hill-oak is, I think, their favourite.

The nests closely resemble those of the Long-tailed t.i.t (_Acredula rosea_). They are large ovoidal ma.s.ses of moss, lichen, and moss-roots, often tacked together a good deal outside with cotton-wool, down of different descriptions, and cobwebs. They average about 4 inches in height or length, and about 3 inches in diameter.

The aperture is on one side near the top. The egg-cavity, which may average about 2 inches in diameter and about the same in depth below the lower edge of the aperture, is densely lined with very soft down or feathers.

They lay from six to eight eggs, but I once found only four eggs in a nest, and these fully incubated.

From Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall notes that this species "builds a globular nest of moss and hair and feathers in th.o.r.n.y bushes. The eggs we found were pinkish white, with a ring of obsolete brown spots at the larger end. Size 055 by 043. Lays in May."

Captain Hutton tells us that the Red-cap t.i.t is "common at Mussoorie and in the hills generally, throughout the year. It breeds in April and May. The situation chosen is various, as one taken in the former month at Mussoorie, at 7000 feet elevation, was placed on the side of a bank among overhanging coa.r.s.e gra.s.s, while another taken in the latter month, at 5000 feet, was built among some ivy twining round a tree, and at least 14 feet from the ground. The nest is in shape a round ball with a small lateral entrance, and is composed of green mosses warmly lined with feathers. The eggs are five in number, white with a pinkish tinge, and sparingly sprinkled with lilac spots or specks, and having a well-defined lilac ring at the larger end."

From Nynee Tal, Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"This species makes a beautifully neat nest of fine moss and lichens, globular, with side entrance, and thickly lined with soft feathers. A nest found on Cheena, above Nynee Tal, on the 24th May, 1873, at an elevation of about 7000 feet, was wedged into a fork at the end of a bough of a cypress tree, about 10 feet from the ground, the entrance turned inwards towards the trunk of the tree. It contained one tiny egg, white, with a dark cloudy zone round the larger end.

"About the 10th of May, at Naini Tal, I was watching one of these little birds, which kept hanging about a small rhododendron stump about 2 feet high, with very few leaves on it, but I could see no nest. A few days later I saw the bird carry a big caterpillar to the same stump and come away shortly without it; so I looked more closely and found the nest, containing nearly full-fledged young, so beautifully wedged into the stump that it appeared to be part of it, and nothing but the tiny circular entrance revealed that the nest was there. It was the best-concealed nest for that style of position that I have ever seen."

These tiny eggs, almost smaller than those of any European bird that I know, are broad ovals, sometimes almost globular, but generally somewhat compressed towards one end, so as to a.s.sume something of a pyriform shape. They are almost entirely glossless, have a pinkish or at times creamy-white ground, and exhibit a conspicuous reddish or purple zone towards the large end, composed of mult.i.tudes of minute spots almost confluent, and inters.p.a.ced with a purplish cloud. Faint traces of similar excessively minute purple or red points extend more or less above and below the zone. The eggs vary from 053 to 058 in length, and from 043 to 046 in breadth; but the average of twenty-five is 056 nearly by 045 nearly.

41. Machlolophus spilonotus (Bl.). _The Blade-spotted Yellow t.i.t_.

Machlolophus spilonotus (_Bl._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 281.

Mr. Mandelli found a nest of this species at Lebong in Sikhim on the 15th June in a hole in a dead tree, about 5 feet from the ground. The nest was a mere pad of the soft fur of some animal, in which a little of the brown silky down from fern-stems and a little moss was intermingled. It contained three hard-set eggs.

One of these eggs is a very regular oval, scarcely, if at all, pointed towards the lesser end; the ground-colour is a pure dead white, and the markings, spots, and specks of pale reddish brown, and underlying spots of pale purple, are evenly scattered all over the egg; it measures 078 by 055.

42. Machlolophus xanthogenys (Vig.). _The Yellow-cheeked t.i.t_.

Machlolophus xanthogenys (_Vig._) _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 279; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 647.

The Yellow-cheeked t.i.t is one of the commonest birds in the neighbourhood of Simla, yet curiously enough I have never found a nest.

I have had eggs and nest sent me, and I know it breeds throughout the Western Himalayas, at elevations of from 4000 to 7000 feet; and that it lays during April and May (and probably other months), making a soft pad-like nest, composed of hair and fur, in boles in trees and walls; but I can give no further particulars.

Captain Hutton tells us that it is "common in the hills throughout the year. It breeds in April, in which month a nest containing four fledged young ones was found at 5000 feet elevation; it was constructed of moss, hair, and feathers, and placed at the bottom of a deep hole in a stump at the foot of an oak tree."

Writing from Dhurmsala, Captain c.o.c.k says:--"Towards the end of April this bird made its nest in a hole of a tree just below the terrace of my house. Before the nest was quite finished a pair of _Pa.s.ser cinnamomeus_ bullied the old birds out of the place, which they deserted. After they had left it I cut the nest out and found it nearly ready to lay in, lined with soft goat-hair and that same dark fur noticed in the nest of _Parus monticola_."

Later he wrote to me that this species "breeds up at Dhurmsala in April and May. It chooses an old cleft or natural cavity in a tree, usually the hill-oak, and makes a nest of wool and fur at the bottom of the cavity, upon which it lays five eggs much like the eggs of _Parus monticola_. Perhaps the blotches are a little larger, otherwise I can see no difference. I noticed on one occasion the male bird carry wool to the nest, which, when I cut it out the same day, I found contained hard-set eggs. I used to nail a sheepskin up in a hill-oak, and watch it with gla.s.ses, during April and May, and many a nest have I found by its help. _Parus atriceps, P. monticola, Machlolophus xanthogenys, Abrornis albisuperciliaris_, and many others used to visit it and pull off flocks of wool for their nests. Following up a little bird with wool in its bill through jungle requires sharp eyes and is no easy matter at first, but one soon becomes practised at it."

The eggs are regular, somewhat elongated ovals, in some cases slightly compressed towards one end. The ground is white or reddish white, and they are thickly speckled, spotted, and even blotched with brick-dust red; they have little or no gloss.