Chapter 33

"Captain Cock shot one of this species off the nest at Sonamerg with four eggs. The bird he sent to me, and gave me two of the eggs. Regarding the nest he says: 'I took a nest, containing four eggs, about 40 feet up a pine, on the outer end of a bough, by means of ropes and sticks, and I shot the female bird. I do not know what the bird is. I thought it was _P. viridanus_, but I send it to you. The nest was very deep, solidly built, and cup-shaped. Eggs, plain white.' In conversation with Captain Cock he afterwards told me that he had watched the bird building its nest. It was rather on the side of the branch, and its solid formation reminded him of a Goldfinch's nest. It was composed of grass, fibres, moss, and lichens externally and thickly lined with hair and feathers. The eggs were pure unspotted white, rather smaller than those of _Reguloides occipitalis_. Two of them measured ·58 by ·48 and ·57 by ·45. They were taken on the 4th June."

Captain Cock himself writes to me:--"Of all the birds' nests that I know of, this is one of the most difficult to find. One day in the forest at Sonamerg, Cashmere, I noticed a Warbler fly into a high pine with a feather in its bill. I watched with the glasses and saw that it was constructing a nest, so allowing a reasonable time to elapse (nine days or so) I went and took the nest. It was placed on the outer end of a bough, about 40 feet up a high pine, and I had to take the nest by means of a spar lashed at right angles to the tree, the outer extremity of which was supported by a rope fastened to the top of the pine. The nest was a very solid, deep cup, of grass, fibres, and lichens externally, and lined with hair and feathers. It contained four white eggs, measuring 0·58 by 0·48.

"I shot the female, which I sent to Mr. Brooks for identification.

"I forgot to add that this nest, the only one I ever found, was taken early in June."

The egg of this species closely resembles that of some of the species of _Abrornis_--a moderately broad oval, slightly pointed at the small end, pure white, and almost glossless. The only specimen I have seen measures 0·58 by 0·45.

410. Phylloscopus fuscatus (Blyth). _The Dusky Willow-Warbler_.

Phylloscopus fuscatus (_Blyth), Jerd B.I._ ii, p. 191. Horornis fulviventer, _Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 523.

Mr. Blyth long ago stated in 'The Ibis' that _Horornis fulviventris_ was identical with _P. fuscatus_[A].

[Footnote A: It is with considerable hesitation that I reproduce this note. _Horornis fulviventris_ with which Jerdon identified the bird, the nest of which he describes, is certainly _P. fuscatus_. The only doubt I have is whether Jerdon, who apparently had not seen a specimen of _H. fulviventris_, rightly identified his bird with it. With this explanation the note is republished as it appeared in the 'Rough Draft.'--ED.]

Subsequently I procured several specimens which were quite distinct from _P. fuscatus_, structurally as well as in plumage answering perfectly to Hodgson's description.

I wrote to Dr. Jerdon mentioning this fact, and he replied:--"I also am not satisfied of the identity of this species (_H. fulviventris_) with _Phylloscopus fuscatus_. I have recently got at Darjeeling what I take to be _Horornis fulviventris_, and it is somewhat smaller in all its dimensions, but I had not a typical _P. fuscatus_ with which to compare it. Specimens measured 4¾ to 4-7/8 inches; expanse 6½ inches; wing 2 to 2-1/16 inches. I procured the nest and eggs in July; the nest, cup-shaped, on a bank, composed of grass chiefly, with a few fibres; and the eggs, three in number, pinky white, with a few reddish spots."

It is certainly not _P. fuscatus_ (though possibly some specimens of _P. fuscatus_ in the British Museum may bear a label formerly attached to a bird of this species), nor any other _Horornis_ or _Horeites_ included in Dr. Jerdon's work, all of which I have. Mr. Blyth possibly went by Mr. Hodgson's specimens in the British Museum, but some confusion has, it is known, somehow crept in amongst these; and I have no doubt myself that _Horornis fulviventris_ is a good species, and that it was the nest and eggs of this species which Dr. Jerdon found[A].

[Footnote A: I omit the article on _Abrornis chloronotus_, Hodgs, which appeared in the 'Rough Draft' under number 574 bis. There is no manner of doubt that Hodgson got the wrong nest, a nest of a Sunbird, and figured it as that of this bird.--ED.]

415. Phylloscopus proregulus (Pall.). _Pallas's Willow-Warbler_.

Reguloides chloronotus (_Hodgs.), Jerd. B.I._ ii, p. 197. Reguloides proregulus (_Pall.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 566.

Captain Cock has the honour of being the first to take, and, I believe, up to date the _only_ oologist who has ever taken, the nest and eggs of Pallas's Willow-Warbler. Mr. Brooks tried hard for the prize, but he searched on the ground and so missed the nest. He wrote to me from Cashmere, just about the time (June 1871) that Captain Cock found the nest he obtained:--"I have been utterly unable to do anything with _P. proregulus_. I shot a female, with an egg nearly ready to lay, when I first went to Goolmerg, but though I often heard the males singing, I never could find any indication of the nesting female. The feeble song, like that of _P. sibilatrix_, alluded to by Blyth as being that of _P. superciliosus_, is not that of this latter bird, but of _P. proregulus_".

Later, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, he noted that "Captain Cock took the nest and eggs at Sonamerg. It builds, like the Golden-crested Regulus, up a fir-tree, at from 6 to 40 feet elevation, on the outer ends of the branches. The nest is of moss, wool and fibres, and profusely lined with feathers. Eggs, four or five, pure white, profusely spotted with red and a few spots of purple grey. Size, 0·53 by 0·43."

Later still he added in 'The Ibis:'--"Captain Cock writes from Sonamerg: 'The second day I found my first nest with eggs. It was the nest of _P. proregulus_. I shot the old bird. Three eggs. These nests are often placed on a bough high up in a pine-tree, and are domed or roofed, made of moss and lined with feathers. I took another one to day with five eggs, and shot the bird just as it was entering its nest. This was on a bough of a pine, but low down. I know of two more nests of _P. proregulus_, all on pine-trees, from which I hope to take eggs.'

"After describing the nest of _P. humii_, and saying that it was lined with the hair of the musk-deer, he adds: 'In this the nest differs from that of _P. proregulus_, which lines its nest with feathers and bits of thin birch-bark; and the nest of _P. proregulus_ is only partly domed.'

"I measured four eggs of _P. proregulus_ which Captain Cock kindly gave me, and the dimensions are as follows: ·55 by ·44, ·53 by ·43, ·53 by ·43, and ·54 by ·43. They are pure white, richly marked with dark brownish red, particularly at the larger end, forming there a fine zone on most of the eggs. Intermingled with these spots, and especially on the zone, are some spots and blotches of deep purple-grey. The egg is very handsome, and reminds one strongly of those of _Parus cristatus_ on a smaller scale. The dates when the eggs were taken are 30th May and 2nd June, and the place Sonamerg, which is four marches up the valley of the Sindh River."

Captain Cock himself tells me that he "took several nests of this bird at Sonamerg in Cashmere in pine-forests. It breeds in May and June, making a partially domed nest, which is sometimes placed low down on the bough of a pine-tree, sometimes on a small sapling pine where the junction of the bough with the stem takes place, and at other times high up on the outer end of a bough. It lays five eggs, like those of _P. humii_ only smaller. The nests I found were all lined with feathers and thin birch-bark strips. I never found a hair-lining in any of this bird's nests. The outer portions of the nest consisted of moss and lichen, arranged so as to harmonize with the bough on which it was placed. The nests are compact little structures."

Mr. Brooks, writing of the valley of the Bhagirati river, says:--"Common in the alpine parts of the valley. It breeds about Derali, Bairamghati, and Gangaotri, in the large moss-grown deodars."

The eggs of this species closely resemble those of _P. humii_, but are smaller, and, to judge from a few specimens taken by Captain Cock that I have seen, they are somewhat shorter and broader.

Texture smooth, without any perceptible gloss. Ground-colour pure white, spotted freely and principally towards the larger end with red: brick-dust red would perhaps scarcely be a correct term. The colour would be obtained by mixing a little brown and a good deal of purple with vermilion, or by mixing Indian red with a little Venetian red. At the larger end they have an irregular zone of small, more or less confluent, spots and specks of this red, mingled with reddish or brownish purple, and a few specks and spots of the red scattered over the rest of the surface of the egg.

This egg may also be well described, as regards colour and mode of marking, by saying that it resembles the illustration in Hewitson's work of the eggs of _Parus cristatus_, except that the egg of _P. proregulus_ has a distinct zone of nearly confluent spots, and their colour is more of a brownish red than those shown in the plate above referred to, which by-the-by do not correctly represent the colour of the spots upon the eggs of _P. cristatus_ which I have seen. These spots are coloured with too much of a tendency towards crimson instead of brownish red.

Three of the eggs taken by Captain Cock varied from 0·53 to 0·55 in length, and from 0·43 to 0·44 in breadth.

416. Phylloscopus subviridis (Brooks). _Brooks's Willow-Warbler_.

Reguloides subviridis, _Brooks, Hume, cat._ no. 566 bis.

Colonel Biddulph remarks that this species is common in Gilgit at 5000 feet in March, April, May, and beginning of June, and that it breeds in the Nulter valley in July at 10,000 feet. Young birds were shot in August fully fledged.

Major Wardlaw Ramsay observes on the label of a specimen procured by him at Bian Kheyl in Afghanistan in April, "evidently breeding"; and on that of another specimen shot in May at the same place, "contained eggs nearly ready to lay."

418. Phylloscopus humii (Brooks). _Hume's Willow-Warbler_.

Reguloides humii, _Brooks, Hume, cat._ no. 565 bis. Reguloides superciliosus (_Gm), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 565.

Mr. Brooks and Captain Cock are the only persons I know of who have taken the eggs and nests of this species. The nest and eggs sent to and described by me in 'The Ibis' as belonging to this bird cannot really have pertained to it.

Mr. Brooks tells us that _P. humii_ "is very abundant in Cashmere, and I believe in all hills immediately below the snows. It would be vain to look for this bird at elevations below 8000 feet, or at any distance from the snows. It was common even in the birch woods above the upper line of pines. I found many nests. It builds a globular nest of coarse grass on a bank side, always on the ground, and never up a tree. The nest is lined with hair in greater or lesser quantities. The eggs, four or five in number, average ·56 by ·44, are pure white, profusely spotted with red, and sometimes have also a few spots of purplish grey. On the 15th June I found a nest with four young ones on the south side of the Pir-Pinjal Pass. This bird has no song, only a double chirp in addition to its callnote. The double chirp, which is very loud, is intended for a song, for the male bird incessantly repeats it as he feeds from tree to tree near where the female is sitting upon her nest."

Nests of this species obtained in Cashmere towards the end of May and during June near Goolmerg, and brought me by Mr. Brooks, were certainly by no means worthy of this pretty little Warbler. They are very loosely made, more or less straggling cups of somewhat coarse grass, only slightly lined interiorly with fine moss-roots. The egg-cavity is very small compared with the size of the nest, some of which, look like balls of grass with a small hole in the centre. They average from 4 to 5 inches in external diameter, and from 2 to 3 inches in height. The egg cavity does not exceed 2 inches in diameter, and seems often to be less, and is from an inch to half an inch in depth.

From Cashmere, when in the thick of the nests of this species, Mr. Brooks wrote to me as follows:--

"From Goolmerg, which is at the foot of a snowy range, I went up to the foot of the snows through pine-forests. The pines ceased near the snow and were replaced by birch wood on tremendously rocky ground, which bothered me greatly to get over. I had missed _P. humii_ after leaving the foot of the hill, where water was plentiful, but here again the bird became abundant. I could not, however, find a nest here, though I watched several pairs. I think in the cooler country they breed later. Flowers which had gone out of bloom below I again met with up here in full flower.

"Blyth says: '_R. superciliosus_ has not any song, unless a sort of double call, consisting of two notes, can be called a song,' This the males vigorously uttered all day long, but I did not notice this much; but as soon as the female sharply and rapidly uttered the well-known bell-like call, I knew she was disturbed from her nest, or had left it of her own accord. Whichever of us heard this rushed quickly to the spot, and the female once sighted was kept in view as she flitted from tree to tree, apparently carelessly feeding all the while; soon she came lower down to the bashes below, and now her note quickened and betokened anxiety; generally before half an hour would elapse she would make a dash at a particular spot, and wish to go in but checked herself. This would be repeated two or three times, and now the nest was within the compass of 2 or 3 yards. At last down she went and her note ceased. When all had been quiet for a minute or two, the male meanwhile continuing his double note in the trees above, I cautiously approached the place. Sometimes the nest was very artfully concealed, but other times there it was--the round green ball with the opening at one side. I often saw the female put her head out and then partially draw it in again. Her well-defined supercilium was very distinct. I thought I could catch her on the nest once, and went round above her, but out came her head a little further, and she bolted as I brought down my pocket handkerchief on the nest. I shot one or two from the nest, but this I found unnecessary. In every case the female shouted vigorously on leaving the nest or immediately after, and by her very peculiar note fully authenticated the eggs."

Elsewhere Mr. Brooks has remarked:--"Goolmerg is one of those mountain downs, or extensive pasture lands, which are numerous on the top of the range of hills immediately below the Pir-Pinjal Range, which is the first snowy range. It is a beautiful mountain common, about 3000 feet above the level of Sirinugger, which latter place has an elevation of 5235 feet. This common is about 3 miles long and about a couple of miles wide, but of very irregular shape. On all sides the undulating grass-land is surrounded by pine-clad hills, and on one side the pine-slopes are surmounted by snowy mountains. On the side near the snow the supply of water in the woods is ample. The whole hill-side is intersected by small ravines, and each ravine has its stream of pure cold water--water so different from the tepid fluid we drink in the plains. In such places where there were water and old pines _P. humii_ was very abundant: every few yards was the domain of a pair. The males were very noisy, and continually uttered their song. This song is not that described by Mr. Blyth as being similar to the notes of the English Wood-Wren (_P. sibilatrix_) but fainter--it is a loud double chirp or call, hardly worthy of being dignified with the name of song at all. While the female was sitting, the male continued vigorously to utter his double note as he fed from tree to tree. To this note I and my native assistants paid but little attention; but when the female, being off the nest, uttered her well-known '_tiss-yip_,' as Mr. Blyth expresses the call of a Willow-Wren, we repaired rapidly to the spot and kept her in view. In every instance, before an hour had passed, she went into her nest, first making a few impatient dashes at the place where it was, as much as to say--'There it is, but I don't want you to see me go in.'

"The nest of _P. humii_ is always, so far as my observation goes placed on the ground on some sloping bank or ravine-side. The situation preferred is the lower slope near the edge of the wood, and at the root of some very small bush or tree; often, however, on quite open ground, where the newly growing herbage was so short that it only partially concealed it. In form it is a true Willow-Wren's nest--a rather large globular structure with the entrance at one side. Regarding the first nest taken, I have noted that it was placed on a sloping bank on the ground, among some low ferns and other plants, and close to the root of a small broken fir tree which, being somewhat inclined over the nest, protected it from being trodden upon. It was composed of coarse dry grass and moss and lined with finer grass and a few black hairs. The cavity was about 2 inches, and the entrance about 1½ inch in diameter. About 20 yards from the nest was a large, old, hollow fir tree, and in this I sat till the female returned to her nest. My attendant then quietly approached the spot, when she flew out of the nest and sat on a low bank 2 or 3 yards from it: then she uttered her '_tiss-yip_,' which I know so well, and darted away among the pines. My man retired, upon which she soon returned, and having called for a few minutes in the vicinity of the nest, she ceased her note and quickly entered. Again she was quietly disturbed, and sat on a twig not far from the nest. I heard her call once more, and then shot her. There were five eggs, which were slightly incubated.

* * * * *

"My second nest was placed on the side of a steep bank on the ground. The third was similarly placed, and composed of coarse grass and moss, and lined with black horsehair. In each of these nests the number of eggs was five.

"Another nest, taken on the 1st June, with four eggs, was placed on the ground on a sloping bank, at the foot of a small thin bush. It was composed as usual of coarse dry grass and moss, and lined with finer grasses and a few hairs. The eggs were five or six days incubated.

"Another nest, with four eggs, was placed on the ground, under the inclined trunk of a small fir. The same materials were used.

"Another nest, containing four eggs, was placed on a sloping bank and quite exposed, there being little or no herbage to conceal it. It was composed as before, with the addition of a few feathers in the outer portion of the nest.

"Another nest was at the roots of a fern growing on a very steep bank. The new shoots of the fern grew up above the nest, and last year's dead leaves overhung it and entirely concealed it.

"Another was placed on a sloping bank, immediately under the trunk of a fallen and decayed pine. On account of the irregularities in the ground, the trunk did not touch the ground where the nest was by about 2 feet. This was again an instance of contrivance for the nest's protection. It was composed of the same materials as usual.

"Another was among the branches of a shrub, right in the centre of the bush and on the ground, which was sloping as usual.

"Another nest, with four eggs, taken on 3rd June, was placed in the steep bank of a small stream, only 3 feet 6 inches above the water.

"The above examples will give a very fair idea of the situation of the nest; and it now remains only to describe the eggs, which average ·56 long by ·44 broad. The largest egg which was measured was ·62 long and ·45 broad, and the smallest measured ·52 long and ·43 broad. The ground-colour is always pure white, more or less spotted with brownish red, the spots being much more numerous and frequently in the form of a rich zone or cap at the larger end. Intermixed with the red spots are sometimes a few purplish-grey ones. Other eggs are marked with deep purple-brown spots, like those of the Chiffchaff, and the spots are also intermingled with purplish grey. Some eggs are boldly and richly marked, while others are minutely spotted. The egg also varies in shape; but, as a general rule, they are rather short and round, resembling in shape those of _P. trochilus_. In returning from Cashmere, on the south face of the Pir-Pinjal Mountain and close to the footpath, I found on the 15th June a nest of this bird with four young ones. This nest was placed in an unusually steep bank. Half an hour after finding the nest, and perhaps 1000 feet lower down the hill, I stood upon a mass of snow which had accumulated in the bed of a mountain-stream."

Captain Charles R. Cock writes to me that he "took numbers of nests at Sonamerg, in the Sindh Valley in Cashmere, during a nesting trip that I took in 1871 with my valued and esteemed friend W.E. Brooks, Esq. Although at the time of our finding the nest of this Warbler we were about 80 miles apart, yet we both found our first nest on the same day--the 31st May. I believe he was by a couple of hours or so the winner, as I do not think the egg had ever been taken before.

"Breeds in May or June on the ground in banks; makes a globular nest of moss, well lined with fine grass, musk-deer hair, or horse-hair. It lays five eggs, white spotted with rusty red, inclining to a zone at the larger end."

Typically the eggs of this species are broad ovals, slightly compressed towards one end; the ground pure white and almost perfectly devoid of gloss, speckled and spotted with red or purplish red, the markings, most dense about the large end, often forming an irregular mottled cap or zone. These are the general characters, but the eggs vary very much in shape, size, colour, and density of markings. Some eggs are almost spherical; others are somewhat elongated; others slightly pyriform. As a body, alike in shape and coloration, they remind one of the eggs of many species of Indian Tit, especially those of _Lophophanes melanolophus_. In some eggs the markings are a slightly brownish brickdust-red, moderate sized spots and specks scattered pretty thickly over the whole surface, but gathered into a dense, more or less confluent, zone or cap towards the large end. Intermingled with these primary markings a few pale purple spots are scattered towards the large end of the eggs. In other eggs the markings are mostly mere specks, and in this type of egg the specks are mostly brownish purple, in some almost black. Occasionally an egg is almost entirely spotless, having only towards the large end a clouded dingy reddish-purple zone. In some eggs again the colour of the markings is pale and washed out. As a rule, the eggs in which the markings are of the brickdust-red type have these larger, bolder, and more numerous; while those in which the markings are purple have them of a more minute character.

The shape of the eggs, as already noticed, varies much, being sometimes longer than those of _P. trochilus_, and at other times very much of the same rounded shape. Frequently they are more pointed at the smaller end than those of _P. trochilus_ usually are. The texture of the egg is similar to that of _P. trochilus_, with scarcely any gloss. The ground-colour is always pure white, and the markings, which are always more or less plentiful, are either reddish brown or purple-brown, intermingled sparingly with lighter or darker purple-grey.