Part 24

In length they vary from 0·88 to 1·1, and in breadth from 0·73 to 0·85; but the average of fifty eggs measured is 0·99 by 0·77.

108. Argya subrufa (Jerd.). The Large Rufous Babbler.

Layardia subrufa (Jerd.), Hume, Cat. no. 437.

The nest is a deep massive cup placed in the fork of twigs, coarsely and roughly but still strongly built. The body of the nest is chiefly composed of leaves, some of which must have been green when used. Outside, the leaves are held in position by blades of grass, creepers, and stems of herbaceous plants, carelessly and roughly wound about the exterior. The cavity is rather more neatly lined with tolerably fine grass-bents. Exteriorly the nest is about 7 inches in height and 5 in diameter. The cavity is about 3½ inches deep by 3 in diameter.

The eggs are precisely like those of the several species of Argya, moderately broad ovals rather obtuse at both ends, often with a pyriform tendency. The colour is a uniform spotless clear blue with a faint greenish tinge, and the eggs have usually a fine gloss. The eggs measure 0·98 by 0·75.

110. Crateropus canorus (Linn.). The Jungle Babbler.

Malacocercus terricolor (Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 59; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 432. Malacocercus malabaricus, Jerd., Jerd. t.c. p. 62; Hume, t.c. no. 434.

C. terricolor.

The Bengal Babbler breeds throughout the plains of the Bengal Presidency (including Bengal, North-Western Provinces, Central Provinces, Oudh, and the Punjab), and I may add in the less desert portions of Sindh, although the race found in that province is not exactly identical with the Bengal bird, and in some respects closely approaches the Malabar race. In Northern Rajpootana it is rare, and further south in the quasi-desert tracts of Central and Western Rajpootana it disappears according to my experience.

Eastward in Cachar and Assam it appears to occur as a mere straggler, but I have no record of its having bred there. It lays from the latter half of March until the close of July, but the great majority lay during the first week after the setting in of the rains, which varies according to locality and season, from the 1st of June to the 15th of July.

They build very commonly in gardens, in thick orange-, citron-, or lime-shrubs, but their nests may be found almost anywhere, in thick shrubs or small trees of any kind, or in thick hedges, at heights of from 4 to 10 feet from the ground, always placed in some fork towards the centre of the shrub or hedge. The nests are rather loosely-put-together cups, composed of grass-stems and roots varying in fineness, and often lined with horse-hair. Some are deep and neatly constructed, others loose, straggling, and shallow, the cavity varying from 3 to more than 4 inches in diameter and from less than 2 to nearly 3 inches in depth.

Three is the normal number of the eggs, but I have repeatedly found four.

Captain Hutton writes to me:--"A nest of this bird was taken in the Dehra Dhoon on the 14th May, and was composed entirely of fine roots, the thinnest being placed within as a lining. Subsequently three others were procured, one of which was externally composed of coarse dry grasses and leaves, with a scanty lining of fine roots; the other two were constructed of the fine woody tendrils of climbing-plants and lined like the others with fine roots. These latter had a strong resemblance to some of the nests of Garrulax albogularis, while the difference exhibited in the nature of the materials used arises from the various character of the localities in which the bird may choose to build. Each nest contained four beautiful eggs of a full bright turquoise-green, shining as if varnished. The eggs were nearly all hard-set. This species does not ascend the hills, but appears to be confined to the Dhoon, where it may be seen in small parties in gardens, hedgerows, and low brushwood, turning over the dead leaves in search of seeds and insects. Its flight is low, short, and apparently laboured, from the shortness and rounded form of the wing, but on the ground it hops along with speed. The note is clamorous and chuckling and uttered in concert."

The late Mr. A. Anderson remarked:--"Although one of the most common birds in the North-West Provinces, and in fact verging on a nuisance, its nidification is interesting, inasmuch as its nest (in common with that of A. malcolmi) is used as a nursery for the young of Hierococcyx varius and Coccystes melanoleucus.

"This Babbler builds, as a general rule, during the early part of the rains (June to August), laying usually three or four eggs of a bright greenish-blue colour. The nest itself recalls that of the Blackbird, but it is frequently very clumsily made. On the 21st June last a boy brought me a nest of this species containing eight eggs. Two, if not three, of this clutch are easily separable from the others, being more oval and somewhat smaller, and are unquestionably parasitical eggs; but it is quite impossible to say whether they belong to H. varius or C. melanoleucus.

"Again, on the 9th July, I took a nest in person, which also contained eight eggs. Seven of these are all alike and are well incubated, while the eighth is quite fresh, and doubtless owes its parentage to one of the above-mentioned Cuckoos.

"Strange to say I have now another nest marked down, which in like manner contains the same number of callow young. It is just possible that the foster-parents may have to perform double duty in this case.

"From the foregoing it may be inferred that M. canorus does occasionally lay more than four eggs, or as the birds are gregarious even during the breeding-season, it is possible enough that two birds may occasionally deposit eggs in the same nest.

"I should not think that H. varius (the "Brain-fever and Delirium-tremens Bird" as it is frequently called) had much difficulty in depositing her eggs in the nest of the Malacocerci, for I have frequently noticed that all the Babblers in the neighbourhood make a clean bolt of it immediately this Cuckoo puts in an appearance, no doubt owing to its great similarity to the Indian Sparrow-Hawk (M. badius).

"During the months of September and October I have observed several Babblers in the act of feeding one young H. varius, following the bird from tree to tree, and being most assiduous in their attentions to the young interloper."

Mr. H.M. Adam remarks:--"I took a nest of this bird in Agra on the 17th July. It contained five eggs, all of which were nearly hatched. Again on the 21st I took another nest containing only one hard-set egg."

Writing from Calcutta, Mr. J.C. Parker says:--"I found a nest of this bird, near my house in Garden Reach, on the 23rd June. It contained four fresh eggs."

Colonel Butler observes:--"The Bengal Babbler breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa as a rule, I think, during the rains and in the cold weather, but I have found nests as late as March. The nest is usually placed on the outside branch of some moderate-sized tree (neem &c.). It is a somewhat solidly built structure composed almost entirely of dead twigs, stems of dead leaves, and stalks of coarse dry grass, being lined with a few fine fibrous roots or stems of grass. I found nests on the following dates:--

"July 16, 1875. A nest containing 4 fresh eggs. "March 20, 1876. " " 4 fresh eggs. "May 29, 1876. " " 3 fresh eggs. "June 17, 1876. " " 3 fresh eggs. "June 17, 1876. " " 4 young birds. "Oct. 15, 1876. " " 4 fresh eggs. "Nov. 3, 1876. " " 4 slightly incubated.

"In some nests I have noticed a breach upon one side of the nest as if intended for the convenience of the bird's tail. It is not unusual to find an egg of C. jacobinus in the nest."

Major C.T. Bingham writes:--"Common both at Allahabad and at Delhi; I have found this bird breeding from April to the end of July. All nests that I have found have, with the exception of one, been placed in low babool bushes; once only I found a nest near Delhi in the fork of a low bough of a mango-tree, this was on the 31st July. The nests are more or less loosely constructed cups of slender twigs and grass-roots and inclined."

Mr. J.R. Cripps writing from Eastern Bengal says:--"On the 15th April I found a nest on the very top of a mango-tree about 30 feet off the ground, shooting the male as it flew off the nest."

The eggs of this species are very variable in colour, shape, and size. Typically they are rather broad ovals, somewhat compressed towards one end, and much the shape of, though a good deal smaller than, those of our English Song-Thrush. Some are, however, long and cylindrical; others more or less spherical. The colour varies from a pale blue, like that of Trochalopterum lineatum, to a deep dull blue, recalling, but yet not so dark as, that of Garrulax albigularis. The eggs are typically glossy, but it is remarkable that in a large series the deepest coloured are always far the most glossy. Some deep blue eggs of this species are most intensely glossy, more so than almost any other of our Indian eggs, except those of Metopidius indicus. I need scarcely say that the eggs are entirely spotless and devoid of all markings, but I may note that each egg is invariably the same colour throughout, and that I have never met with a specimen in which the shade of colour varied in the same egg.