Chapter 12

As a rule, the nest is placed on the ground, in some thick clump of dry fern or coarse grass, amongst dead leaves and moss, but at times I have seen it placed in a thick bush 2 or 3 feet from the ground. It is very common near Kotegurh and below Narkunda, where we found nearly a dozen nests, almost all, however, containing young ones. Typically the nest is domed, and is loosely constructed of the materials at hand--coarse grass, dry fern, dead leaves, moss-roots, and the like, some 6 or 7 inches in diameter and 5 or 6 inches high, with a broad entrance on one side, a good deal above the middle. In some cases, however, where a dense bunch of grass or fern completely curves over the spot selected for the nest, the latter is a mere broad, shallow saucer. There is no regular lining to the nests, but a good many fine roots are at times incorporated in the interior of the cavity. All the nests that I have seen were placed near the edges of clumps of brushwood or scrubby jungle.

I ought here to mention that I am by no means certain that the Nepalese and Sikhim, in fact the eastern race of this species (_P. ferrugilatus_ Hodgs.), will not have to be separated from the more western _P. erythrogenys_ of Gould. Long ago Blyth remarked ('Journal Asiatic Society,' 1845, p. 598) that "there seems to be two marked varieties of _P. erythrogenys_, one having white under-parts, with merely faint traces of darker spots, the other with the throat and breast densely mottled with greenish olive," or, as I should call it, dingy olive-grey. This is perfectly true, and, as far as I can make out, the latter variety is not one of sex or age, but is local and confined to Kumaon (where the other form also occurs) and the hills eastward of this province. My own remarks above given refer to the true _P. erythrogenys_, and so do Hutton's; but Hodgson's and Mr. Gammie's birds both appear to have been, and the latter's certainly were, grey-throated examples. The eggs are undistinguishable, as, indeed, though they vary somewhat in shape and size, are those of most of the _Pomatorhini_.

Captain Hutton says that this species is "common from 3500 feet up to 10,000 or 12,000 feet, always in pairs, turning up the dead leaves on copsewood covered banks, uttering a loud whistle, answering and calling each other. It breeds in April, constructing its nest on the ground of coarse dry grasses and leaf-stalks of walnut-trees, and is covered with a dome-shaped roof, so nicely blended with the fallen leaves and withered grasses, among which it is placed, as to be almost undistinguishable from them. The eggs are three in number, and pure white; diameter 1·12 by 0·81 inches, of an ordinary oval shape. When disturbed, the bird sprung along the ground with long bounding hops, so quickly that, from its motions and the appearance of the nest, I was led to believe it a species of rat. The nest is placed in a slight hollow, probably formed by the bird itself."

According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, this species would appear to breed at heights of from 2000 to 8000 feet. It lays in May and June. On the 20th May, and again on the 6th June, Mr. Hodgson found nests of this species in thick bushes 3 or 4 feet above the ground. They were broad saucer-shaped nests of coarse vegetable fibres, grass, and grass-roots, 7 inches or so in diameter, and the cavity, which had no lining, was about 4 inches in diameter by 2 inches in depth. They contained three and four white eggs respectively. One figured measures 0·98 by 0·73. On June 8th he found two more nests at Jaha Powah, on the ground, on edges of brushy slopes close to grassy open plains, the nest a large mass of grass, oven-shaped, open at one and in one case at both ends, protected by the root of a tree. There were two and three white eggs in the nests respectively. The eggs of these nests are figured as measuring 1·08 by 0·73.

Mr. Gammie remarks:--"I found a nest of this species below Rungbee, at an elevation of about 2000 feet, on the 17th June. It was placed on, and partially in a hole in a bank, and contained two hard-set eggs. It was a large, loose pad of fine grass and dead fern, with a few broad flag-like grass-leaves incorporated towards the base, and overhung by a sort of canopy of similar materials. The basal portion was some 6 inches long and 5 inches broad, and about 2 inches thick in the thickest part, with a broad shallow depression for the eggs of about half that depth."

Writing again this year (1874) he says:--"I have only found two more nests this year, and both in the last week of April; the one contained three partially incubated eggs, the other three young birds. These nests were at Gielle, at an elevation of about 2500 feet. As a rule, these birds nest in open country, immediately adjoining moist thickly wooded ravines, in which they feed, and take refuge if disturbed from the nest. The nest is usually placed on sloping ground, more or less concealed by overhanging herbage, and is composed, according to my experience, of dry grass sparingly lined with fibres. It is large; one I measured _in situ_ was 8 inches in height and 7 inches in diameter; the vertical diameter of the cavity was 4 inches and the horizontal 3½ inches. I have not yet found more than three eggs or young ones in any nest."

Dr. Scully remarks of this bird in Nipal:--"It lays in May and June; two nests, taken on the 30th May and 6th June, were large loosely-made pads, not domed, and with the egg-cavity saucer-shaped, each nest contained three pure white eggs."

The eggs of this species are long, and at times narrow, ovals, pure white and fairly glossy, but occasionally almost glossless, without any marks or spottings.

In length they vary from 1·0 to 1·2, and in breadth from 0·73 to 0·85, but the average of twenty eggs is about 1·11 by nearly 0·8.

133. Xiphorhamphus superciliaris (Blyth). _The Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler_.

Xiphorhamphus superciliaris (_Blyth), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 33; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 406.

The Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, breeds in Sikhim, at elevations of 3000 to 6000 feet, during the months of May and June. The nest is a large globular one, composed of dry bamboo-leaves and green grass, intermingled and lined with fine roots and fibres. The entrance, which is about 2 to 2·5 inches in diameter, is at one end. A nest containing four eggs, obtained on the 12th June, measured about 7 inches in diameter externally, and it was placed in the crown of a stump from 2 to 3 feet from the ground. Sometimes the nests are placed in tufts of high grass or in thick bushes, but never at any great elevation above the ground. They lay three or four eggs, which are pure white, and one of which is figured as a broad oval, measuring 0·95 by 0·7.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took a nest of this Scimitar Babbler on the 29th May, in the middle of the large forest on the top of the Mahalderam ridge, at about 7000 feet elevation. It was built on the ground, on top of a dry bank by the side of a path, and was overhung by a few grassy weeds. In shape it was a blunt cone laid on its side, with the entrance at the wide end. It was loosely made of the dead leaves of a deciduous orchid (_Pleione wallichiana_), small bamboo, chestnut, and grass, intermixed with decaying stems of small climbing-plants. It measured externally 6 inches long, with a diameter of 5·5 at front, and of 1·75 at back. The cavity was quite devoid of lining and measured 3·5 in length by 2·5 wide at entrance, slightly contracting inwards. It contained three partially incubated eggs."

Two eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie are elongated ovals, pure white, and with only a faint gloss. They measure 0·99 and 1·05 in length, by 0·68 and 0·75 in breadth respectively.

Subfamily TIMELIINAE.

134. Timelia pileata, Horsf. _The Red-capped Babbler_.

Timelia pileata, _Horsf., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 24; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 396.

Mr. Eugene Oates records that he "found the nest of this bird at Thayetmyo on the 2nd June with young ones a few days old. The nest was placed on the ground in the centre of a low but very thick thorny bush."

Subsequently he wrote from Pegu, further south:--"The nest is placed in the fork of a shrub, very near to, or quite on, the ground, and is surrounded in every case by long grass. A nest found on the 4th July, on which the female was sitting closely, contained three eggs slightly incubated. The breeding-season seems to be in June and July.

"The nest is made entirely of bamboo-leaves and is lined sparingly with fine grass. No other material enters into its composition. It is oval, about 7 inches in height and 4 in diameter, with a large entrance at the side, its lower edge being about the middle of the nest.

"When the bird frequents elephant-grass, where there are no shrubs, it builds on the ground at the edge of a clump of grass, and I have found two nests in such a situation, only a few feet from each other.

"In looking for the nest a good deal of grass is necessarily trodden down; the consequence is that if you do not find eggs, there is little chance of their being laid later on. I have found some ten nests, more or less completed, but only three eggs."

And again, later on:--"This bird would appear to have two broods a year, for I procured two sittings of three eggs each this year in April, former nests having been found in June and July. With many eggs before me I find that the density of the markings varies considerably. The size is very constant; for the length of numerous eggs varies only from ·75 to ·72, and the breadth from ·6 to ·54 inch."

I was, I believe, myself the first to obtain the eggs of this species, but the first of my contributors who sent me eggs, nest, and a note on the nidification of this species was Mr. J.C. Parker. Writing to me in September 1875, he said:--

"On the 14th August I took a nest of _Timelia pileata_ on my old ground in the Salt Lakes. I discovered this by a mere accident, for I happened to see a female _Prinia flaviventris_ (whose eggs I was in quest of for you) perched on the top of a bush inland about 10 feet from the bank of the canal, and from her movements I thought she must have a nest near at hand.

"Accordingly I landed, although not in trim for wading through a bog. Sure enough I was not mistaken; the _Prinia_ had a nest, but it contained only _one_ egg. Close by, however, I saw a nest, from out of which a bird flew, and although I did not shoot it I am quite sure it was _Timelia pileata_. The jungle was particularly thick just about where I stood, indeed impenetrable, and I could not follow the bird, but I soon heard the male bird talking to his mate in that extraordinary way which these birds have, and which once heard cannot be mistaken.

"The nest was placed on the spikes growing from the joints of a species of grass very thick and stiff, and forming a secure foundation for the nest. This latter is 6 inches high and 4 inches broad. Egg-cavity 2 inches, entrance-hole 1½ by 2. The nest itself is very loosely put together with the dead leaves of the tiger-grass twisted round and round, and lined roughly with coarse grass. The nest was quite open to view and about three feet from the ground. I suppose the birds never expected that such a wild swampy spot as they had selected would be invaded by any oologist."

Mr. J.R. Cripps writing from Eastern Bengal says:--"Pretty common. Permanent resident. Oftener found in the patches of cane brushwood jungle found in and around villages than in unfrequented jungle and thickets as Dr. Jerdon says. I have, however, once seen it in a field of jute, which was alongside a village. Its well-known note can be heard a long way off. I have several times found nests in course of construction, but only once secured a clutch of eggs. When the nests are being built, if the bush is at all disturbed the nest is deserted. The earliest date on which I found a nest was the 1st April, 1878; it was half finished, and as I pulled the cane-leaves asunder to see if there were eggs, the birds deserted it. After this I found four nests in cane-clumps on the sides of roads, but they were empty, and as the birds abandoned them in due course I despaired of getting any eggs; but on the 15th June, while going along a road, the edges of which were bounded by the small embankments natives throw up round their holdings, and which are always overgrown with 'sone' grass, I saw one of these birds with a straw in its bill disappear at the root of a small date-tree. The nest could be discerned from the road. On the 20th June I returned and found two fresh eggs; the nest was placed at the junction of the frond and the stem of the date-tree about five inches from the ground, and was an oval deep cup and measured externally 5 inches deep by 3¾ broad. Egg-cavity 2 broad and 1¾ deep, composed exclusively of 'sone' grass with no lining."

The eggs of this species are broad ovals with a tolerably fine gloss. The ground-colour is pure white. The whole of the larger end of the egg is pretty thickly speckled and spotted with brown, varying from an olive to a burnt sienna intermingled with little spots and clouds of pale inky purple, and similar spots and specks chiefly of the former colour, but smaller in size, scattered thinly over the rest of the egg. In size they vary from 0·69 to 0·75 in length, and from 0·55 to 0·6 in breadth.

135. Dumetia hyperythra (Frankl.). _The Rufous-bellied Babbler_.

Dumetia hyperythra (_Frankl.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 26; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 397.

The Rufous-bellied Babbler breeds throughout the Central Provinces, Chota Nagpoor, Upper Bengal, the eastern portions of the North-West Provinces, parts of Oudh, and even in the low valleys of Kumaon.

It lays from the middle of June to the middle of August, building a globular nest of broad grass-blades or bamboo-leaves some 4 or 5 inches in diameter, sparingly lined with fine grass-roots or a little hair, or sometimes entirely unlined. The nest is placed sometimes on the ground amongst dead leaves, some of which are not unfrequently incorporated in the structure; sometimes in coarse grass or some little shrub a foot or two from the ground, but by preference, according to my experience, in amongst the roots of a bamboo-clump.

Four is the usual number of eggs laid.

Mr. Brooks writes:--"On the 26th June, 1867, in the broken ground above Chunar, I took two nests in the foot of a thick bamboo-bush about 2 feet from the ground. The nests were made of bamboo-leaves rolled into a ball with the entrance at the side, and no lining except a few hairs. There were two eggs in one nest and three in the other. They were all fresh. The eggs in the two nests varied somewhat: the ground of the one was nearly pure white, and it was finely speckled with reddish brown, which at the large end was partly confluent: the other nest had the eggs with a pinkish-white ground, the spots larger and less neatly defined, and with a rather large confluent spot at the large end."

Writing from Hoshungabad, Mr. E.C. Nunn remarks:--"I found two nests of this species, each containing two eggs, on the 20th July and 6th August, 1868. Both nests were ball-shaped, of coarse grass very firmly and compactly twisted together, and with numerous dead leaves incorporated in the body of the nest and towards the base, forming the major portion of the material. They were thinly lined inside with fine grass-roots. One was placed at the root of a small thorny bush: the other on the ground in a thick clump of rank grass." The nest Mr. Nunn sent to me was peculiarly solidly made. The cavity was small, about 2·25 inches in depth and 1·5 in diameter. The bottom of the nest was some 2 inches and the sides 1·25 inch thick.

From Raipoor Mr. F.R. Blewitt tells us that "in July and August four nests of this Babbler were taken; in two there were four eggs each, in the third, three, and in the fourth, two--thirteen in all. The nests were carefully made on the ground, at the base of clumps of long grass growing very near to bamboo thickets. Three are made exclusively of the dry leaves of the bamboo; the fourth of coarse grass. They were nearly globular, about 4 inches in diameter, and without any regular lining, although in the interior of the cavity a good deal of fine grass-stems had been incorporated in the nest. They were well hidden in the grass."

Mr. Henry Wenden writes:--"On July 18th, about 15 miles from Bombay, on the line of railway, I found a nest and eggs of the following description: nest, a rough loose ball of soft flat grasses, lined with hard but fine grass-stems, entrance at side near top; situated in a thorny bush in cactus-hedge, by a narrow lane, not 4 feet wide, through which numerous people passed. The nest, about 3 feet from the ground, was in no way concealed. On the 18th there were two eggs, and on the 20th, when there were four eggs, the bird was snared and nest taken."

The eggs are short, broad ovals, very slightly compressed towards one end. The ground-colour is white or pinkish white, and it is streaked, spotted, and speckled most thickly at the large end (where there is a tendency to form an irregular confluent cap or zone), and thinly towards the small end, with shades of red, brownish red, and reddish purple, varying much in different examples. In some the markings are pretty bold and blotchy, in others they are small and speckly; in some they are smudgy and ill-defined, in others they are clear and distinct. Some of the eggs are miniatures of some types of _Pyctorhis sinensis_, but many recall the eggs of the Titmouse. They are much about the size of those of _Parus caeruleus_ and _P. palustris_, but a trifle less broad than either of these. The eggs have a faint gloss.

In length they vary from 0·63 to 0·7, and in breadth from 0·5 to 0·56; but the average of twenty-four eggs now before me is 0·67 by 0·53.

136. Dumetia albigularis (Blyth). _The Small White-throated Babbler_.

Dumetia albogularis (_Blyth), Jerd. B. Ind_ ii, p. 26; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 398.

Miss M.B. Cockburn, writing from Kotagherry, tells me that "the White-throated Babbler builds its nest in the month of June. One was found by my nest-seekers on the 17th of that month in the year 1873. It was constructed on a coffee-tree, and contained three eggs, which were white, profusely covered with reddish spots of all sizes. The bird was very shy, and would not return to the nest for some hours after it had been discovered; when, however, she did so, she was shot. This year (1874) I found another similar nest on the 9th of June, also containing three eggs."

The nest with which she favoured me was small and nearly globular (say at most 4 inches in external diameter), composed entirely of broad flaggy grass without any lining or any admixture whatsoever of other material. The nest was loosely put together, and had a comparatively narrow circular entrance near the top.

From Mysore Mr. Iver Macpherson writes:--"This is an exceedingly common bird in parts of this district, and their nests are so plentiful that I never now take them.

"I send you all the eggs I have at present, but can procure you any number more next season.

"The birds are to be found in all kinds of wooded country except the heavy forests, and appear to breed from the middle of April to the end of July, and possibly later.

"The nest is a largish globular structure loosely made of either bamboo-leaves or blades of grass, and all that I have ever seen have been lined inside with a few fine fibres.

"Four appears to be the usual number of eggs, but very often there are only three.

"The nests are always built near the ground, sometimes almost touching it, and are fixed in either small bushes, tufts of grass, or young bamboo-clumps."

Mr. J.L. Darling, Jun., states that this bird is very common in Culputty in the Wynaad, at an elevation of about 3000 feet, and that he has found the nests from the end of May to the middle of October. The nest is built in high grass nearly on the ground, or in date-palms, or in arrowroot in the jungle up to heights of 3 feet. The nest is built entirely of grass, lined with finer grass; a nearly round ball 6 inches in diameter outside and 5 inside, with a hole on the side. The eggs are laid at the rate of one a day, and three are usually found in one nest, occasionally only two. On one occasion after securing the female bird, he found the cock bird sitting on the eggs and he continued to sit there for three days.

Mr. J. Davidson tells us that he found a nest of this bird on the 15th July at Kondabhari with four fresh eggs.

Colonel Legge writes in his 'Birds of Ceylon':--"The breeding-season lasts from March until July, the nests being built in a low bush sometimes only a few inches from the ground."

In shape the eggs are moderately elongated ovals. The shell is very fine and smooth, and has in some a rather bright, in some only a very slight gloss. The ground is a China-white. The markings consist of a profusion of specks and spots of a very bright red, which, though spread over the whole surface, are gathered most densely into an imperfect, more or less confluent, cap or zone at the larger end, where also a few purplish-grey spots and specks not usually found on any other part of the egg, are noticeable.

In length the eggs vary from 0·66 to 0·78, and in breadth from 0·5 to 0·55. The average of 28 eggs is 0·72 by 0·53.

139. Pyctorhis sinensis (Gm.). _The Yellow-eyed Babbler_.

Pyctorhis sinensis (_Gm.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 15; _Hume, Rough Draft N.& E._ no. 385.

The Yellow-eyed Babbler breeds throughout the plains of India, as also in the Nilghiris, to an elevation of 5000 feet, and in the Himalayas to perhaps 4000 feet. It lays in the latter part of June, in July, August, and September. Gardens are the favourite localities and in these the little bird makes its compact and solid nest, sometimes in a fork of the fine twigs of a lime-bush, sometimes in a mangoe-, orange-, or apple-tree, occasionally suspended between three stout grass-stems, or even attached to a single stem of the huge grass from which the native pens are made. I have taken a nest, hung between three reeds, exactly resembling in shape and position the Reed-Warbler's nest (_Salicaria arundinacea_), figured in Mr. Yarrell's vignette at page 313, vol. i. 3rd edition.

The nest is typically cone-shaped (the apex downwards), from 5 to 6 inches in depth, and 3 or 4 in diameter at the base; but it varies of course according to situation, the cone being often broadly truncated. In the base of the cone (which is uppermost) is the egg-cavity, measuring from 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and from 2 to 2·5 inches in depth. The nest is _very_ compactly and solidly woven, of rather broad blades of grass, and long strips of fine fibrous bark, exteriorly more or less coated with cobwebs and gossamer-threads. Interiorly, fine grass-stems and roots are neatly and closely interwoven. I once found some horse-hair along with the grass-roots, but this is unusual.

The full number of eggs is, I believe, five. I have repeatedly taken nests containing this number, and have comparatively seldom met with a smaller number of eggs at all incubated.

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall says:--"I found a nest of this species at Roorkee in the early part of July. It contained three eggs and was beautifully made, a deep cup fixed on to an artichoke-stock, and at a little distance much resembled an artichoke."