Chapter 5

"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 1·15 by 0·85 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 Cock 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 coarser. 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 1·1 to 1·21, and in breadth they only varied from 0·84 to 0·87.

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 Fagoo early in May with nearly full-fledged young ones, and my people have taken them with young in April below the Jalouri Pass.

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 grass 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 himalayanus, _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 shell 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 1·74 by 1·2.

Subfamily PARINAE.

31. Parus atriceps, Horsf. _The Indian Grey Tit_.

Parus cinereus, _Vieill, Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 278. Parus caesius, _Tick., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 645.

The Indian Grey Tit breeds throughout the more wooded mountains of the Indian Empire, wherever these attain an altitude 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 Woodpeckers.

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 mass 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 grass or grass-roots; but as a rule the hairs of soft and downy fur constitute 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 Tit 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 grass-roots and feathers, and contained in each case nearly fully-grown young, five in number."

From Dhurmsala Captain Cock 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-shells 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 quantity of dry grass and moss, which formed the foundation."

Lieut. H.E. Barnes notes from Chaman in Afghanistan:--"This Tit 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 Tits, 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 arsenal. 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 assiduously 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 Tit does not occur in Bombay, and I never saw it in Berar."

Speaking of Southern India Mr. Davison remarks that "the Grey Tit 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."

From Kotagherry, Miss Cockburn 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 Tits 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 quantities. They build in the months of February and March; but I once found a nest of young Indian Grey Tits 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 Tit at Coonoor, 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, Coonoor, 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 Woodpecker. 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 Tits, and though, I think, typically slightly longer, they appear to me to be very close to those of _Parus palustris_. 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 0·65 to 0·78, and in breadth from 0·5 to 0·58; but the average of thirty-eight is 0·71 by 0·54, 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 Tit_.

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

The Green-backed Tit 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 masses 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 Cock says:--

"The nest was in a cavity of a rhododendron tree, and was a large mass 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 Tit 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 0·68 to 0·76 in length, and from 0·49 to 0·54 in breadth; but the average of thirty-two eggs is 0·72 by 0·52 nearly.

35. Aegithaliscus erythrocephalus (Vig.). _Red-headed Tit_.

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

The Red-headed Tit 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 grass, 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 Tit (_Acredula rosea_). They are large ovoidal masses 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 4½ inches in height or length, and about 3½ inches in diameter. The aperture is on one side near the top. The egg-cavity, which may average about 2¼ 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 thorny bushes. The eggs we found were pinkish white, with a ring of obsolete brown spots at the larger end. Size 0·55 by 0·43. Lays in May."

Captain Hutton tells us that the Red-cap Tit 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 coarse grass, 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 assume 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 multitudes of minute spots almost confluent, and interspaced 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 0·53 to 0·58 in length, and from 0·43 to 0·46 in breadth; but the average of twenty-five is 0·56 nearly by 0·45 nearly.

41. Machlolophus spilonotus (Bl.). _The Blade-spotted Yellow Tit_.

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 0·78 by 0·55.

42. Machlolophus xanthogenys (Vig.). _The Yellow-cheeked Tit_.