Part 10

Captain Hutton tells us that this species "occurs abundantly at Mussoorie, at about 5000 feet elevation, during summer, and more sparingly at greater elevations. In the winter it leaves the mountains for the Dhoon.

"It breeds in May, on the 27th of which month I took a nest with three eggs and another with three young ones. The nest is like that of Urocissa occipitalis, being composed externally of twigs and lined with finer materials, according to the situation; one nest, taken in a deep glen by the side of a stream, was lined with the long fibrous leaves of the Mare's tail (Equisetum) which grew abundantly by the water's edge; another, taken much higher on the hillside and away from the water, was lined with tendrils and fine roots. The nest is placed rather low, generally about 8 or 10 feet from the ground, sometimes at the extremity of a horizontal branch, sometimes in the forks of young bushy oaks. The eggs somewhat resemble those of U. occipitalis, but are paler and less spotted, being of a dull greenish ash with brown blotches and spots, somewhat thickly clustered at the larger end."

Mr. J.R. Cripps says:--"On the 15th June, 1880, I found a nest [in the Dibrugarh District] with three fresh eggs. It was fixed in the middle branches of a sapling, about ten feet off the ground, in dense forest, and was built of twigs, presenting a fragile appearance; the egg-cavity was 4½ inches [in diameter] and 1 inch deep, and lined with fine twigs and grass-roots."

Captain Wardlaw Ramsay writes:--"I obtained two eggs of this species at an elevation of 4200 feet in the Karen hills east of Toungngoo on the 16th April, 1875."

Taking the eggs as a body they are rather regular, somewhat elongated ovals, but broader and again more pointed varieties occur. The ground-colour varies a great deal: in a few it is nearly pure white, generally it has a dull greenish or yellowish-brown tinge, in some it is creamy, in some it has a decided pinky tinge. The markings are large irregular blotches and streaks, almost always most dense at the large end, where they are often more or less confluent, forming an irregular mottled cap, and not unfrequently very thinly set over the rest of the surface of the egg. In one egg, however, the zone is about the thick end, and there are scarcely any markings elsewhere. As a rule the markings are of an olive-brown of one shade or another; but when the ground is at all pinkish then the markings are more or less of a reddish brown. Besides these primary markings, all the eggs exhibit a greater or smaller number of faint lilac or purple spots or blotches, which chiefly occur where the other markings are most dense. In length they vary from 1·06 to 1·22, and in breadth from 0·8 to 1·0, but the average of 34 eggs is 1·14 by 0·85.

21. Crypsirhina varians (Lath.). The Black Racket-tailed Magpie.

Crypsirhina varians (Lath.), Hume, Cat. no. 678 quat.

This Magpie is very common in Lower Pegu, where Mr. Oates found many nests. He says:--

"This bird appears to lay from the 1st of June to the 15th of July; most of my nests were taken in the latter month. It selects either one of the outer branches of a very leafy thorny bush, or perhaps more commonly a branch of a bamboo, at heights varying from 5 to 20 feet.

"The nest is composed of fine dead twigs firmly woven together. The interior is lined with twisted tendrils of convolvulus and other creepers. The uniformity with which this latter material is used in all nests is remarkable. The inside diameter is 5 inches, and the depth only 1, thus making the structure very flat. The exterior dimensions are not so definite, for the twigs and creepers stick out in all directions; but making all allowances, the outside diameter may be put down at 7 or 8 inches, and the total depth at 1½ inches.

"The eggs are usually three in number, but occasionally only two well incubated eggs may be found. In a nest from which two fresh eggs had been taken, a third was found a few days later.

"The eggs measure from 1·09 to ·88 in length, and from ·76 to ·68 in breadth. The average of 22 eggs is ·98 by ·72."

In shape the eggs are typically moderately broad, rather regular ovals, but some are distinctly compressed towards the small end, some are slightly pyriform, some even pointed, though in the great majority of cases the egg is pretty obtuse at the small end; the shell is compact and tolerably fine, and has a faint gloss. The ground-colour seems to be invariably a pale yellowish stone-colour. The markings vary a good deal: in some they are more speckly, in others more streaky, but taking them as a whole they are intermediate between those of Dendrocitta and those of Garrulus, neither so bold and streaky as the former, nor so speckly as the latter. The markings are a yellowish olive-brown; they consist of spots, specks, small streaky blotches and frecklings; they are always pretty densely set over the whole surface of the egg, but they are always most dense in a zone or sometimes a cap at the large end, where they are often, to a great extent, confluent. In some eggs small dingy brownish-purple spots and little blotches are intermingled in the zone. The eggs differ in general appearance a good deal, because in some almost all the markings are fine grained and freckly, and in such eggs but little of the ground-colour is visible, while in other eggs the markings are bolder (in comparison, for they are never really bold) and thinner set, and leave a good deal of the ground-colour visible.

23. Platysmurus leucopterus (Temm.). The White-winged Jay.

Platysmurus leucopterus (Temm.), Hume, Cat. no. 678 quint.

Mr. W. Davison writes:--

"I found a nest of this bird on the 8th of April at the hot springs at Ulu Laugat. The nest was built on the frond of a Calamus, the end of which rested in the fork of a small sapling. The nest was a great coarse structure like a Crow's, but even more coarsely and irregularly built, and with the egg-cavity shallower. It was composed externally of small branches and twigs, and loosely lined with coarse fibres and strips of bark. It contained two young birds about a couple of days old. The nest was placed about 6 feet from the ground. The surrounding jungle was moderately thick, with a good deal of undergrowth."

24. Garrulus lanceolatus, Vigors. The Black-throated Jay.

Garrulus lanceolatus, Vig., Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 308; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 670.

The Black-throated Jay breeds throughout the Himalayas, at elevations of from 4000 to 8000 feet, from the Valley of Nepal to Murree.

They lay from the middle of April until the middle of June.

They build on trees or thick bushes, never at any great height from the ground, and often within reach of the hand. They always, I think, choose a densely foliaged tree, and place the nest sometimes in a main fork and sometimes on some horizontal bough supported by one or more upright shoots.

All the nests I have seen were moderately shallow cups, built with slender twigs and sticks, some 6 inches in external diameter, and from less than 3 inches to nearly 4 inches in height, with a nest-cavity some 4 inches across and 2 inches deep, lined with grass and moss-roots. Once only I found a nest almost entirely composed of grass, and with no lining but fine grass-stems.

The eggs vary from four to six, but this latter number is rarely met with.

Colonel C.H.T. Marshall writes:--"This is one of the commonest birds about Murree; we always found it well to the front during our rambles, chattering about in the trees. They breed from the middle of April till the end of June. We have taken their eggs between the 20th April and the 16th June. They keep above 5000 feet. I never observed any in the lower ranges. The nest is not a difficult one to find, being large and of loose construction; from 15 to 30 feet up a medium-sized tree close to the trunk or sometimes in a large fork. They never seem to build in the spruce firs which abound about Murree. They are by no means shy birds, and hop about the trees close by while their nest is being examined. Five is the ordinary number of eggs, which differ very much in appearance and size: the longest I have measures 1·25 and the shortest 1·1. Some are paler, some darker; some are of a uniform pale greenish-ash colour with a darker ring, while others are thickly speckled and freckled with a darker shade of the same colour. Some lack the odd ink-scratch which is so often to be seen on the larger end, and is the most peculiar feature of the egg, while a few have it at the thinner end.

"I should describe the average type as a long egg for its breadth; ground-colour greenish ashy with very thick sprinklings of spots of a darker and more greenish shade of the same colour, a ring of a darker dull olive round the large end, on which are one or two lines that look like a haphazard scratch from a fine steel pen."

From Dhurmsala Captain Cock wrote to me that this was "a most common bird at Dhurmsala; appears in large flocks during the winter, and often mixes with Garrulus bispecularis and Urocissa flavirostris. Pairs off about the end of April, when nidification begins. Builds a rather rough nest of sticks, generally placed on a tall sapling oak near the top; sometimes among the thicker branches of a pollard oak: outer nest small twigs roughly put together; inner nest dry roots and fibres, rather deep cup-shaped. Eggs number from four to five and vary in shape. I have found them sometimes nearly round, but more generally the usual shape. They vary in their colour, too, some being much lighter than others, but most of them have a few hair-like streaks on the larger end."

From Mussoorie Captain Hutton tells us that "the Black-throated Jay breeds in May and June, placing the nest sometimes on the branch of a tall oak tree (Quercus incana), at other times in a thick bush. It is composed of a foundation of twigs, and lined with fine roots of grass &c. mixed with the long black fibres of ferns and mosses, which hang upon the forest trees, and have much the appearance of black horse-hair. The nest is cup-shaped, rather shallow, loosely put together, circular, and about 4½ inches in diameter. The eggs are sometimes three, sometimes four in number, of a greenish stone-grey, freckled, chiefly at the larger end, with dusky and a few black hair-like streaks, which are not always present; they vary also in the amount of dusky freckling at the larger end. The nestling bird is devoid of the lanceolate markings on the throat."