Chapter 7

One nest of this species taken in Native Sikhim in July, was placed in the fork of four leafy twigs, and was in shape a slightly truncated inverted cone, nearly 7 inches in height and 5·5 in diameter at the base of the cone, which was uppermost. The leaves attached to the twigs almost completely enveloped it. The nest itself was composed almost entirely of stems of creepers, several of which were wound round the living leaves of the twigs so as to hold them in position on the outside of the nest; a few bamboo-leaves were intermingled with the creeper's stems in the body of the nest. The cavity, which is almost perfectly hemispherical, only rather deeper, is 3·5 inches in diameter and 2·25 in depth, and is entirely and very neatly lined with very fine black roots. Another nest, which was taken at Rishap on the 21st May, with two fresh eggs, was placed in some small bamboos at a height of about 10 feet from the ground, it is composed externally entirely of dry bamboo-leaves, loosely tied together by a few creepers and a little vegetable fibre, and it is lined pretty thickly with fine black fibrous roots. This nest is about 6 inches in diameter and 3·5 high exteriorly, while the cavity measures 3·5 by 2.

The eggs sent me by Mr. Gammie are a beautiful clear, rather pale, greenish blue, without any spots or markings. They have a slight gloss. In shape they are typically much elongated and somewhat pyriform ovals, very obtuse at both ends; but moderately broad examples are met with. In length they vary from 1·05 to 1·33, and in breadth from 0·76 to 0·86; but the average of thirty-five eggs is 1·18 nearly by 0·82 nearly.

69. Garrulax leucolophus (Hardw.). _The Himalayan White-crested Laughing-Thrush_.

Garrulax leucolophus (_Hardw.), Jerd. B, Ind._ ii, p. 35; _Hume. Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 407.

According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, the Himalayan White-crested Laughing-Thrush breeds at various elevations in Sikhim and Nepal, from the Terai to an elevation of 5000 or 6000 feet, from April to June. It lays from four to six eggs, which are described and figured as pure white, very broad ovals, measuring 1·2 by 0·9. It breeds, we are told, in small trees, constructing a rude cup-shaped nest amongst a clamp of shoots, or between a number of slender twigs, of dry bamboo-leaves, creepers, scales of the turmeric plant, &c., and lined with fine roots.

Dr. Jerdon says:--"I have had the nest and eggs brought me more than once when at Darjeeling, the former being a large mass of roots, moss, and grass, with a few pure white eggs."

One nest taken in July at Darjeeling was placed on the outer branches of a tree, at about the height of 8 feet from the ground. It was a very broad shallow saucer, 8 inches in diameter, about an inch in thickness, and with a depression of about an inch in depth. It was composed of dead bamboo-leaves bound together with creepers, and lined thinly with coarse roots. It contained four fresh eggs. Other similar nests contained four or three eggs each.

From Sikhim, Mr. Gammie writes:--"I have found this Laughing-Thrush breeding in May and June, up to about 3500 feet; I have rarely seen it at higher elevations, and cannot but think that Mr. Hodgson is mistaken in stating that it breeds up to 5000 or 6000 feet. The nests are generally placed in shrubs, within reach of the hand, among low, dense jungle, and are rather loosely built cup-shaped structures, composed of twigs and grass, and lined with fibrous roots. Externally they measure about 6 inches in diameter by 3·5 in depth; internally 4 by 2·25.

"The eggs are usually four or five in number, but on several occasions I have found as few as two well-set eggs."

Numerous nests of this species have now been sent me, taken in May, June, and July, at elevations of from 2000 to fully 4000 feet, and in one case it is said 5000. They are all very similar, large, very shallow cups, from 6 to nearly 8 inches in external diameter, and from 2·5 to 3·5 in height; exteriorly all are composed of coarse grass, of bamboo-spathes, with occasionally a few dead leaves intermingled, loosely wound round with creepers or pliant twigs, while interiorly they are composed and lined with black, only moderately fine roots or pliant flower-stems of some flowering-tree, or both. Sometimes the exterior coating of grass is not very coarse; at other times bamboo-spathes exclusively are used, and the nest seems to be completely packed up in these.

The eggs of this species are broad ovals, pure white and glossy. They vary from 1·05 to 1·13 in length, and from 0·86 to 0·95 in width, but the average of eighteen eggs is a little over 1·1 by 0·9.

70. Garrulax belangeri, Less. _The Burmese White-crested Laughing-Thrush_.

Garrulax belangeri, _Less., Hume, Cat._ no. 407 bis.

Mr. Oates, who found the nest of this bird many years ago in Burma, has the following note:--"Nest in a bush a few feet from the ground, on the 8th June, near Pegu. In shape hemispherical, the foundation being of small branches and leaves of the bamboo, and the interior and sides of small branches of the coarser weeds and fine twigs. The latter form the egg-chamber lining and are nicely curved. Exterior and interior diameters respectively 7 and 3½ inches. Total depth 3½ and interior depth 2 inches. Three eggs, pure white and highly glossy, and they measure 1·14 by ·87, 1·1 by ·88, and 1·03 by ·86."

The nests of this species are large, loosely constructed cups, much resembling those of its Himalayan congeners. The base and sides consist chiefly of dry bamboo-leaves with a few dead tree-leaves scantily held together by a few creepers, while the interior portion of the nest, which has no separate lining, is composed of fine twigs and stems of herbaceous plants and the slender flower-stems of trees which bear their flowers in clusters. The nests vary a good deal in exterior dimensions as the materials straggle far and wide in some cases, and the external diameter may be said to vary from 6 to 8 inches, and the height from 3·25 to 4·5; the cavities are more uniform in size, and are about 3·5 in diameter by 2 in depth.

The eggs are moderately broad ovals, at times somewhat pointed perhaps towards the small end, pure white and fairly glossy.

Major C.T. Bingham thus writes of this bird:--"It is very difficult to either watch these birds, unseen yourself, at one of their dancing parties, or to catch one of them actually sitting on the nest. Twice had I in the end of March this year come across nests with one or two of these birds in the vicinity, and yet have had to leave the eggs in them as uncertain to what bird they belonged. At last, on the 2nd April, I came in for a piece of luck. I was roaming about in the vicinity of my camp on the Gawbechoung, the main source of the Thoungyeen river, and moving very slowly and silently amid the dense clumps of bamboo, when my ears were saluted by the hearty laughter of a flock of these birds, evidently not far off. Very quietly I crept up, and looking cautiously from behind a thick bamboo-clump, saw ten or twelve of them going through a most intricate dance, flirting their wings and tails, and every now and then bursting into a chorus of shouts, joined in by a few others who were seated looking on from neighbouring bushes. During one of the pauses of the applause, and while the dancers were busy twining in and out, a single rather squeaky 'bravo' came from a bamboo-bush right opposite to me. Looking up I was astonished to see a nest in a fork of the bamboo, and on the nest a _Garrulax_ who, probably too busy with her maternal duties to watch the performance going on below her attentively, came in with a solitary shout of approbation at an unseemly time. I watched the performance a few minutes longer, and then frightened the old hen on the nest. The terrific scare I caused by my sudden appearance is beyond description. The dancers scattered with screeches, and the old hen dropped fainting over the side of her nest with a feeble remonstrance, and disappeared in the most mysterious way. After all the nest contained only one egg, very glossy, white, and fresh. The nest was better and stronger built, though very like that of _Garrulax moniliger_, constructed of twigs, and finely lined with black hair-like roots; it measured some 6 inches in diameter, the egg-cavity about 1½ inch deep. Subsequently I took three other nests, on the 4th April and 23rd May. The first contained three, the two latter three and four eggs respectively. A considerable number of eggs measure from 1·22 to 1·06 in length, and from ·92 to ·81 in breadth, and average 1·13 by 0·88."

72. Garrulax pectoralis (Gould). _The Black-gorgeted Laughing-Thrush_.

Garrulax pectoralis (_Gould), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 39; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 412.

Mr. Oates tells us that he "found the nest of the Black-gorgeted Laughing-Thrush in the Pegu Hills, on the 27th April, containing three fresh eggs; the bird was sitting. The nest was placed in a bamboo-clump about 7 feet from the ground, made outwardly of dead bamboo-leaves and coarse roots, lined with finer roots and a few feathers; inside diameter 6 inches, depth 2 inches. Two eggs measured 1·04 by 0·83 and 0·86. Colour, a beautiful clear blue."

One of these eggs sent by Mr. Oates[A] seems rather small for the bird. It is a very broad, slightly pyriform oval, of a uniform pale greenish-blue tint, and very fairly glossy. It measures 1·05 by 0·87.

[Footnote A: I fear I may have made a mistake in identifying the nest referred to. With this caution, however, I allow my note to stand.--ED.]

This egg appears to me to be an abnormally small one. A nest sent me from Sikhim, where it was found in July, contained much larger eggs, and more in proportion to the size of the bird. The nest I refer to was placed in a clump of bamboos about 5 feet from the ground. It was a tolerably compact, moderately deep, saucer-shaped nest, between 6 and 7 inches in diameter, composed of dead bamboo-sheaths and leaves bound together with creepers and herbaceous stems, and thinly lined with roots. It contained two eggs. These are rather broad ovals, somewhat pointed towards one end, of a uniform pale greenish blue, and are fairly glossy.

These eggs measured 1·33 and 1·30 in length, and 0·98 in breadth.

Mr. Mandelli sent me two nests of this species, both taken in Native Sikhim, the one on the 4th, the other on the 20th July. Each contained two fresh eggs. One was placed in a small tree in heavy jungle, at a height of about 6 feet from the ground, the other in a clump of bamboos a, foot lower. Both are large, coarse, saucer-shaped nests, 7 to 8 inches in diameter, and 3·5 to 4 in height externally; the cavities are about 4·5 inches in diameter, and less than 2 in depth; the basal portion of the nests is composed entirely of dry leaves, chiefly those of the bamboo, loosely held together by a few stems of creepers; the sides of the nest are stems of creepers wound round and round and loosely intertwined, and the cavity is lined with rather coarse rootlets, and in one case with fine twigs.

73. Garrulax moniliger (Hodgs.). _The Necklaced Laughing-Thrush_.

Garrulax moniliger (_Hodgs.) Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 40; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 413.

Of the Necklaced Laughing-Thrush Dr. Jerdon says:--"I procured both this and the last (the Black-gorgeted Laughing-Thrush) at Darjeeling, and have also seen one or both in Sylhet, Cachar, and Upper Burmah. They both associate in large flocks, and frequent more open forest than most of the previous species. The eggs are greenish blue."

From Sikhim, Mr. Gammie writes:--"In the first week of June I found a nest in low jungle, at 2000 feet, containing four greenish-blue eggs, but, as I did not see the bird, left it until my return a week later. I then saw the female, but in the interval the young had been hatched. The nest closely resembled that of _D. caerulatus_ [p. 46], both in shape and composition, and was similarly situated between several upright slender shoots to which it was firmly attached. It was, however, within five feet of the ground, which is lower by 5 feet or so than _D. caerulatus_ generally builds.

"I have found this species breeding from April to June, up to elevations not much exceeding 2500 feet. It affects the low, dense scrub growing in moist situations, and usually fixes its nest between several upright sprays, within 5 or 6 feet of the ground. The nest is cup-shaped, made of dry bamboo-leaves, intermixed with a very few pieces of climber-stems, and thickly lined with old leaf-stalks of some pinnate-leaved tree. Externally it measures about 5·5 inches in diameter by 4 in height; internally 3·5 by 2·75.

"The eggs are four or five in number."

Mr. Oates writes:--"On the 27th April I shot a female in the Pegu Hills off her nest. This latter contained one young one, and one deformed egg, which unfortunately got broken; colour a deep blue. The nest was placed in a small seedling bamboo about 6 feet from the ground at a joint where a number of small twigs shot out, inverted umbrella fashion. The nest in every respect closely resembled that of _G. pectoralis_."

He subsequently remarked:--"Breeds in Lower Pegu chiefly in July. Average of six eggs, 1·16 by ·88; colour, very glossy deep blue. Nest placed in forks of saplings within reach of the hand, massive, cup-shaped, and made of dead leaves and small branches; lined with fine twigs. Outside diameter 7 inches and depth 4; interior 4¼ by 2."

A nest found below Darjeeling in the first week of June on the branch of a good-sized tree, at a height of 12 feet from the ground, was similar to that described by Mr. Gammie, and contained a single fresh egg. This is a moderately broad oval, somewhat pointed towards the small end, and exhibits very little gloss. It is of precisely the same colour as those of the preceding species, but measures only 1·2 in length by 0·9 in breadth.

Writing from Tenasserim, Major C.T. Bingham says:--"Between the 25th March and 28th April I found at least twenty nests of this bird. They were broad, shallow cups of roots and twigs, lined with fine black grass-roots, and placed at heights varying from 4 to 10 feet above the ground, invariably in the forks of low bamboo. The number of eggs varied from 3 to 5; blue in colour, and fairly glossy."

Numerous nests from Sikhim, Pegu, and Tenasserim are all of precisely the same type as described by Mr. Gammie; but some are fully 7 inches in external diameter, and in several the cavity is at least 4 inches in diameter.

The eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie vary very much in size and shape, and somewhat in colour. Some are considerably elongated ovals, with a marked pyriform tendency. Others are particularly broad ovals for this class of egg. The shell is fine and compact, and as a rule they seem to have a fine gloss; but one or two specimens almost want this. In colour they are a pale, clear, slightly greenish blue, unspotted and unmarked. In length they vary from 1·01 to 1·13, and in breadth from 0·81 to 0·9, but the average of thirteen is 1·07 by 0·85.

76. Garrulax albigularis (Gould). _The White-throated Laughing-Thrush_.

Garrulax albogularis (_Gould), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p, 38; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 411.

The White-throated Laughing-Thrush breeds throughout the lower southern ranges of the Himalayas from Assam to Afghanistan at elevations of from 4000 to nearly 8000 feet. They lay from the commencement of April to the end of June. The nest varies in shape from a moderately deep cup to a broad shallow saucer, and from 5 to 7 or even 8 inches in external diameter, and from less than 2 to nearly 4 inches in depth internally. Coarse grass, flags, creepers, dead leaves, moss, moss- and grass-roots, all at times enter more or less largely into the composition of the nest, which, though sometimes wholly unlined, is often neatly cushioned with red and black fern and moss-roots. The nests are placed in small bushes, shrubs, or trees, at heights of from 3 to 10 feet, sometimes in forks, but more often, I think, on low horizontal branches, between two or three upright shoots.

Three is, I think, the regular complement of eggs, and this is the number I have always found when the eggs were much incubated. I have not myself observed that this species breeds in company, nor can I ever remember to have taken two nests within 100 yards of each other.

Captain Hutton remarks:--"This is very common in Mussoorie at all seasons, and congregates into large and noisy flocks, turning up the dead leaves, and screaming and chattering together in most discordant concert. It breeds in April and May, placing the nest in the forks of young oaks and other trees, about 7 or 8 feet from the ground, though sometimes higher, and fastening the sides of it firmly to the supporting twigs by tendrils of climbing-plants. It is sometimes composed externally almost entirely of such woody tendrils, intermixed with a few other twigs, and lined with black hair-like fibres of mosses and lichens; at other times it is externally composed of coarse dry grasses and leaves of different kinds of orchids, and lined with fibres, the materials varying with the locality. The eggs are of a deep and beautiful green, shining as if recently varnished, and three in number. In shape they taper somewhat suddenly to the smaller end, which may almost be termed obtusely pointed. The size 1·19 by 0·87 inch. The usual number of eggs is three, though sometimes only one or two are found; but only on one occasion out of more than a dozen nests have I found four eggs. The old bird will remain on the nest until within reach of the hand."

From Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall writes:--"This was the most beautiful egg taken this season, being of a rich, deep, glossy, greenish-blue colour. The nest is composed of fresh ivy-twigs, with the leaves attached, tightly woven together. The birds breed on small trees, not high up, at the end of a branch. While their nests were being examined, they came round in flocks to see what was happening, chattering and making that peculiar laughing note from which this genus takes its name. They are even gregarious in the breeding-season, and all the nests were found pretty near each other about 6000 feet up."

The nest sent me by Colonel Marshall is a broad, shallow cup, or saucer as I should perhaps call it, some 6 inches in diameter, with a central depression of at most 1·5 inch, below which the nest is an inch or 1·5 in thickness. It is very loosely put together, and composed interiorly of moderately fine dry twigs and roots, but exteriorly it is completely wound round with slender green ivy-twigs to which the leaves are attached. It has no lining or pretence for such.

Captain Cock says:--"The White-throated Laughing-Thrush lays one of the most lovely eggs with which I am acquainted. The nest is usually low, never more than 10 feet or so from the ground; and of some fifteen or more nests that I have taken, all were constructed of long stalks of the ground-ivy, twisted round and round into a wreath. The nest is not a deep cup; if anything it is rather shallow, but it is very wide. I always found these nests in thick forest, at high elevations from 6000 to 7000 feet. The birds used to sit close, and when put off their nests would commence their outcries, and from all parts they would assemble and flit about almost within reach of one's hand, making an awful noise, and in the dark shade of the forest their white gorgets had quite a ghostly look. The eggs are always three in number, of a beautiful shining blue-green, sometimes of a very long oval type. I have found the nests at Murree from the 3rd May to quite the end of June."

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writing of this species says:--"A nest found at Nynee Tal on Ayar Pata, about 7000 feet above the sea, contained two fresh eggs on the 31st May. The eggs were of a rich deep greenish blue, unspotted. The nest was a scanty and loosely-built structure, composed of roots and stems of grass and creepers, cup-shaped, rather shallow, and lined with a curious black creeper, very like coarse hair. The birds were gregarious even though breeding, and were moving about the underwood in parties of three to five. The nest was near the top of an oak-sapling in a dense coppice, placed close against the stem in a bunch of leaves at the top. The only difficulty in finding it lay in the scantiness of the structure rather than in the concealment by the foliage. The bird was on the nest and only moved off about 3 feet, sitting close by and chattering indignantly during my inspection. They are noisy birds, constantly on the move, and their notes, though rather harsh, are very varied and quite _conversational_."

The eggs are long, and pointed at the small end, to which they sometimes taper much. They are very glossy, and vary from a deep dull blue (the blue of a dark oil-paint, very much deeper than that of any other of the Crateropodinae with which I am acquainted) to a deep intense greenish blue. Possibly other as deeply coloured eggs occur in this family, but I have seen none like them. They are of course entirely unspotted.

In length they vary from 1·16 to 1·25, and in breadth from 0·8 to 0·86; but the average of some twenty eggs measured is 1·22 by 0·83.

78. Ianthocincla ocellata (Vig.). _The White-spotted Laughing-Thrush_.

Garrulax ocellatus (_Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 41; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 414.

I know nothing personally of the nidification of the White-spotted Laughing-Thrush, which breeds nowhere, so far as I know, west of Nepal, but I had a nest with a couple of eggs and one of the parent-birds sent me from Darjeeling. The nest was taken in May in one of the low warm valleys leading to the Great Runjeet, and is said to have been placed close to the ground in a thick clump of fern and grass. The nest is chiefly composed of these, intermingled with moss and roots, and is a large loose structure some 7 inches in diameter.

Mr. Blyth remarked in 'The Ibis' (1867) that this species was "surely a _Trochalopteron_ rather than a _Garrulax_," and the eggs seem to confirm this view. These are long, cylindrical ovals, very obtuse even at the smaller end. They are about the same size as those of _Garrulax albigularis_, with a very delicate pale blue ground and little or no gloss. One egg is spotless; the other has a few chocolate-brown specks or spots towards the large end. They measure 1·18 by 0·86 and 1·25 by 0·85.

80. Ianthocincla rufigularis, Gould. _The Rufous-chinned Laughing-Thrush_.

Trochalopteron rufogulare (_Gould), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 47; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 421.

Common as this species is about Simla, I have never yet secured the nest, and know nothing certain about the eggs.

Captain Hutton says:--"This species appears usually in pairs, sometimes in a family of four or five. It breeds in May, in which month I took a nest, at about 6500 feet elevation, in a retired and wooded glen; it was composed of small twigs externally and lined with the fine black fibres of lichens. The nest was placed on a horizontal bough, about 7 feet from the ground, and contained three pure white eggs. Size 1·12 by 0·69; shape ordinary. The stomach of the old bird contained sand, seed, and the remains of wasps."

One egg that I possess of this species I owe to Captain Hutton, and it is of the _Pomatorhinus_ type--a long oval, slightly pointed pure white egg, with but little gloss, measuring 1·08 by 0·75.

From Sikhim a nest, said to belong to this species, has been recently sent me. It was found below Darjeeling in July, and was placed in a double fork of the branchlets of a medium-sized tree. It is a moderately deep cup, composed almost entirely of dry, coarser and finer, tendrils of creepers, and is lined with a some black moss-roots and a few scraps of dead leaves. It contained three fresh eggs.