The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds Part 67

"A few days subsequently I saw a brood of young ones flying about a dry tree in the forest, so probably the breeding-season here extends through April and May."

The eggs are very similar to those of _Sturnia malabarica_ and _S. nemoricola_, but perhaps slightly larger. They are moderately elongated ovals, generally decidedly pointed towards the small end.

The sh.e.l.l is very fine and smooth, and has a fair amount of gloss. In colour they are a very delicate pale greenish blue. They measure 099 and 1 in length by 071 in breadth.

538. Sturnia malabarica (Gm.). _The Grey-headed Myna_.

Temenuchus malabaricus (Gm.), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 330; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 688.

I have never met with the nest of the Grey-headed Myna myself, but am indebted to Mr. Gammie for its eggs and nest. That gentleman says:--"I obtained a nest of this species near Mongphoo (14 miles from Darjeeling), at an elevation of about 3400 feet. The nest was in the hollow of a tree, and was a shallow pad of fine twigs, with long strips of bark intermingled in the base of the structure, and thinly lined with very fine gra.s.s-stems. The nest was about 4 inches in diameter and less than 1 inch in height exteriorly, and interiorly the depression was perhaps half an inch deep. It contained four hard-set eggs."

This year he writes to me:--"The Grey-headed Myna breeds about Mongphoo, laying in May and June. I have taken several nests now, and I found that they prefer cleared tracts where only a few trees have been left standing here and there, especially on low but breezy ridges, at elevations of from 2500 to 4000 feet. They always nest in natural holes of trees both dead and living, and at any height from 20 to 50 feet from the ground. The nest is shallow, princ.i.p.ally composed of twigs put roughly together in the bottom of the hole. They lay four or five eggs.

"The Grey-headed Myna is not a winter resident in the hills. It arrives in early spring and leaves in autumn. It is very abundant on the outer ranges of the Teesta Valley, and is generally found in those places frequented by _Artamus fuscus_. It feeds about equally on trees and on the ground, and a flock of 40 or 50 feeding on the ground in the early morning is no unusual sight."

Mr. J.R. Cripps, writing from Fureedpore, Eastern Bengal, says:--"Very common from the end of April to October, after which a few birds may be seen at times. I cannot call to mind ever having seen these birds descend to the ground. They must nest here, though I failed to find one. In front of my verandah was a large _Poinciana regia_, in the trunk of which, and at about seven feet from the ground, was an old nest-hole of _Xantholaema_ which a pair of these birds widened out.

During all May and June I watched these birds pecking away at the rotten wood and throwing the bits out. They generally used to engage in this work during the heat of the day; and, although I several times searched the hole, no eggs were found; the pair were not pecking at the decayed wood for insects, for I watched them through a gla.s.s. Had I remained another month at the factory most likely they would have laid during that time; it was on this account their lives were spared.

This species a.s.sociates with its congeners on the peepul trees when they are in fruit, which they eat greedily."

Subsequently detailing his experiences at Dibrugarh in a.s.sam, he adds:--"On the 27th May I found a nest with three callow young and one fresh egg. The birds had excavated a hole in a rotten and dead tree about 18 feet from the ground, and had placed a pad of leaves only at the bottom of the hole. They build both in forest as well as the open cultivated parts of the country."

Mr. Oates remarks:--"This Myna lays in Pegu in holes of trees at all heights above 20 feet. It selects a hole which is difficult of access, and I have only been able to take one nest. This was on the 13th May.

This nest, a small pad of gra.s.s and leaves, contained three eggs, which were slightly incubated. They measured 086 by 07, 08 by 07, and 083 by 072."

Major C.T. Bingham writes from Tena.s.serim:--"I shot a Myna as she flew out of a hole in a zimbun tree (_Dillenia pentagyna_). I had nearly a fortnight before seen the birds; there was a pair of them, busy taking straw and gra.s.s-roots into the hole; and so on the 18th April, when I shot the birds, I made sure of finding the full complement of eggs, but to my regret on opening the hollow, I only found one egg resting in a loose and irregularly formed nest of roots and leaves. This solitary egg is of a pale blue colour."

The eggs vary a good deal in shape: some are broad and some are elongated ovals, but all are more or less pointed towards the small end; the sh.e.l.l is very fine and delicate, and rather glossy; the colour is a very delicate pale sea-green, without any markings of any kind. They vary from 089 to 10 in length, and from 069 to 072 in breadth; but the average of ten eggs is 093 by 07.

539. Sturnia nemoricola, Jerdon. _The White-winged Myna_.

Sturnia nemoricola, _Jerd., Hume, cat._ no. 688 bis.

Mr. Gates writes from Lower Pegu:--"Of _S. nemoricola_ I have taken two sets of eggs: one set of two eggs fresh, and one of three on the point of being hatched; the former on 12th May, the latter on 6th June. In size the two clutches vary extraordinarily. The first two eggs measure 82 x 62 and 85 x 63; the second lot measure 101 x 7, 10 x 7, and 10 x 7.

"The eggs are very glossy, and the colour is a uniform dark greenish blue, of much the same tint as the egg of _Acridotheres tristis_."

543. Ampeliceps coronatus, Blyth. _The Gold-crest Myna_.

Ampeliceps coronatus, _Bl., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 693 s.e.x; _id. cat._ no. 693 ter.

Of the nidification of this beautiful species, the Gold-crest Myna, we possess but little information. My friend Mr. Davison, who has secured many specimens of the bird, writes:--"On the 13th April, 1874, two miles from the town of Tavoy, on a low range of hills about 200 feet above the sea-level, I found a nest of the Gold-crest Grakle. The nest was about 20 feet from the ground in a hole in the branch of a large tree. It was composed entirely of coa.r.s.e dry gra.s.s, mixed with dried leaves, twigs, and bits of bark, but contained no feathers, rags, or such substances as are usually found in the nests of the other Mynas.

The nest contained three young ones only a day or two old."

544. Temenuchus paG.o.darum (Gm.). _The Black-headed Myna_.

Temenuchus paG.o.darum (_Gm.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 329; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 687.

The PaG.o.da or Black-headed Myna breeds throughout the more open, dry, and well-wooded or cultivated portions of India. In Sindh and in the more arid and barren parts of the Punjab and Rajpootana on the one hand, or in the more humid and jungly localities of Lower Bengal on the other, it occurs, if at all, merely as a seasonal straggler. How Adams, quoted by Jerdon (vol. ii, p. 330), could say that he never saw it in the plains of the North-West Provinces (where, as a matter of fact, it is one of our commonest resident species), altogether puzzles me.

Neither in the north nor in the south does it appear to ascend the hills or breed in them at any elevations exceeding 3000 or 4000 feet.

The breeding-season lasts from May to August, but in Upper India the great majority lay in June.

According to my experience in Northern India it nests exclusively in holes in trees. Dr. Jerdon says that "at Madras it breeds about large buildings, paG.o.das, houses, &c." This is doubtless correct, but has not been confirmed as yet by any of my Southern Indian correspondents, who all talk of finding its nest in holes of trees.

The whole is thinly lined with a few dead leaves, a little gra.s.s, and a few feathers, and occasionally with a few small sc.r.a.ps of some other soft material.

They lay from three to five eggs.

From Hansie Mr. W. Blewitt writes:--"During June and the early part of July I found numerous nests of this species in holes of shishum, peepul, neem, and siriss trees situated on the bank of the Hissar Ca.n.a.l. The holes where at heights of from 12 to 15 feet from the ground, and in each a few leaves or feathers were laid under the eggs.

Five was the greatest number found in any one hole."

Recording his experience in the Delhi, Jhansi, and Saugor Divisions, Mr. F.R. Blewitt tells us that the PaG.o.da Myna breeds from May to July, building its nest in holes of trees, selecting where possible those most inaccessible. I have always found the nest in the holes of mango, tamarind, and high-growing jamun trees. Feathers and gra.s.s, sometimes an odd piece of rag, are loosely placed at the bottom of the hole, and on these the eggs repose.

"The eggs are pale bluish green, and from four to five form the regular number. I may add that only on one occasion did I obtain five eggs in a nest."

"In Oudh," writes Mr. R.M. Adam, "I took one nest of this species, in a hole in a mango-tree, on the 5th May, containing five eggs."

Major C.T. Bingham remarks:--"All nests I have found at Allahabad and Delhi have been in holes in trees, in the end of May, June, and July.

Nest strictly speaking there is none, but the holes are lined with feathers and straw, in which the eggs, four in number, are generally half buried."

Lieut. H.E. Barnes tells us that this Myna breeds in Rajputana in June, and that he found one nest in that month in a hole of a tree with three eggs.

Colonel E.A. Butler records the following notes:--"The Black-headed Myna breeds plentifully in the neighbourhood of Deesa in June, July, and August, but somehow or other I was unlucky this year (1876) in procuring eggs. On the 30th July I found a nest containing four young birds and another containing four eggs about to hatch. On the 2nd of August I found three nests, all containing young birds. On the 20th August I found four more nests; three contained young birds and the fourth four fresh eggs. All of these nests were in holes of trees, in most instances only just large enough at the entrance for the bird to pa.s.s through. In some cases there was no lining at all except wood dust, in others a small quant.i.ty of dry gra.s.s and a few feathers. The average height from the ground was about 8 or 10 feet; some nests were, however, not more than 4 or 5 feet high.

"Belgaum, 21st May, 1879.--A nest in the roof of a house under the tiles; three fresh eggs. Another nest on the same date in a hole of a tree, containing one fresh egg. The hole appeared to be an old nest-hole of a Barbet. Other nests observed later on, in June and July, in the roofs of houses under the tiles. Another nest in the hole of a tree, 27th April, containing four fresh eggs. Three more nests, 4th May, containing three incubated eggs, three fresh eggs, and three young birds respectively. Two of the nests were in the nest-holes of Barbets, from which I had taken eggs the month previous.

7th May, another nest containing four fresh eggs.

"I can confirm Dr. Jerdon's statement, quoted in the Rough Draft of 'Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds,' relative to this species breeding in large buildings, having observed several nests myself this season at Belgaum on the roofs of bungalows. In one bungalow, the mess-house of the 83rd Regt., there were no less than three nests at one time built under the eaves of the roof."

Messrs. Davidson and Wenden, writing of the Deccan, say:--"Not quite so common as _Acridotheres tristis_. Breeds at Satara in May."

Mr. Benjamin Aitken remarks:--"In Nests and Eggs, p. 433, you write:--'Dr. Jerdon says that at Madras it breeds about large buildings, paG.o.das, houses, &c.' This is doubtless correct, but has not been confirmed as yet by any of my Southern Indian correspondents, who all talk of finding its nest in holes of trees.' On the 29th June last year I was at the Anniversary Meeting of the Medical College, and the proceedings were disturbed by the incessant clatter of _two_ broods of young of this species. The nests were in holes in the wall near the roof, and the two pairs of old birds, which were feeding their young, kept coming and going the whole time, flying in at the windows and popping into the holes over the peoples' heads. In the following month a nest of young were taken out of a hole in the outer wall of a house I was staying at, and the birds laid again and hatched another brood.

"I very rarely saw the Black-headed Myna in Bombay, Poona, or Berar, but here, in Madras, it is, if anything, commoner than _A. tristis_."

And Mr. J. Davidson, writing from Mysore, also confirms Jerdon's statement; he says:--"_T. paG.o.darum_ breeds here in holes in the roofs of houses as well as in trees."

Of the breeding of this Myna in Ceylon, Colonel Legge says:--"In the northern part of Ceylon this Myna breeds in July and August, and nests, I am informed, in the holes of trees."

Mr. A.G.R. Theobald notes that "early in August I found a nest of _T.

paG.o.darum_ at Ahtoor, the hill-station of the Shevaroys. It was down in the inside of a partly hollow nut-tree log, attached to a scaffolding, about 2 1/2 feet down and, say, 35 feet from the ground, and was composed of dry leaves and a few feathers. It contained three fresh eggs."

The eggs of this Myna are, of course, glossy and spotless, and the colour varies from very pale bluish white to pale blue or greenish blue. I have never seen an egg of this species of the full clear sky-blue often exhibited by those of _A. tristis, S. contra_, and _A.

giuginia.n.u.s_.