Part 32

The egg sent me from Pegu by Mr. Oates is of precisely the same size and type, but the markings are much less dense and are brighter coloured. The ground-colour is white, and the egg is pretty thickly speckled with a reddish-chocolate brown. Here and there a moderately large irregularly-shaped spot is intermingled with the finer specklings. The markings are rather most dense at the large end, where there is a tendency to form a zone, and here a number of pale purplish-grey streaks and specks are also intermingled.

Major C.T. Bingham says:--"Early on the morning of the 7th April, moving camp from the sources of the Thoungyeen, on the side of a hill at the foot of a bamboo-bush not two feet from the road, I flushed and shot a female of the above species off her nest; a little loosely-put-together round ball of dry bamboo-leaves, unlined, though domed over, with the entrance at the side, and containing two fresh eggs, white, thickly speckled with brick-red and obscure purple. On the 12th of the same month, I found a second nest behind the zayat or rest-house at Meeawuddy. This was similar to the nest above described, and contained three similar eggs."

The eggs measure from ·78 to ·88 in length, and from ·58 to ·65 in breadth; but the average of twelve eggs is ·82 by ·62.

147. Pellorneum fuscicapillum (Bl.). The Brown-capped Babbler.

Pellorneum fuscocapillum (Bl), Hume, Cat. no. 399 quint.

Captain Legge writes, in his 'Birds of Ceylon':--"The nest of this species is exceedingly difficult to find, and scarcely anything is known of its nidification. Mr. Blyth succeeded in finding it in Haputale at an elevation of 5500 feet. It was placed in a bramble about 3 feet from the ground, and was cup-shaped, loosely constructed of moss and leaves; it contained three young."

149. Drymocataphus nigricapitatus (Eyton). The Black-capped Babbler.

Drymocataphus nigricapitatus (Eyton), Hume, Cat. no. 396 sex.

Mr. W. Davison writes:--"I got one nest of this bird at Klang. I was passing through some very dense jungle, where the ground was very marshy, when one of these birds rose from the ground about a couple of feet in front of me, and alighted on an old stump some few feet away. On examining the place from which the bird rose, I found the nest placed at the base of a small clump of ferns, and concealed by a number of overhanging withered fronds of the fern. The base of the nest, which rested on the ground, was composed of a mass of dried twigs, leaves, &c.; then came the real body of the nest, composed of coarse fern-roots, the egg-cavity being lined with finer roots and a number of hair-like fibres. It looked compactly and strongly put together, but on trying to remove it, it all came to pieces. When the bird saw me examining the nest it fluttered to within a couple of feet of me, twittering in a most vehement manner, feigning a broken wing to try and draw me away. The nest contained only two eggs, which were slightly set."

These eggs are extremely regular ovals, scarcely smaller, if at all, at one end than at the other. The shell is very fine and fragile, but has only a slight gloss. The ground-colour appears to have been creamy white, but the markings are so thickly set that little of this is anywhere visible. First, pale inky-purple spots and clouds are thickly sprinkled over the surface, and over this the whole egg is freckled with a pale purplish brown. They measured 0·82 in length by 0·62 and 0·63 in breadth.

151. Drymocataphus tickelli. Tickell's Babbler.

Trichastoma minus, Hume; Hume, Cat. no. 387 bis.

Major C.T. Bingham found the nest of this bird in the valley of the Meplay river, Tenasserim, and he says:--"On the 15th March I found a little domed nest made of dried bamboo-leaves, and lined with fine roots, placed in a cane-bush a foot or so above the ground. It contained three tiny white eggs, with minute pink dottings chiefly at the larger end; one egg, however, is nearly pure white."

One of these eggs taken by Major Bingham on the 15th March is a very regular, somewhat elongated oval. The shell very fine and delicate, and fairly glossy. The ground is china-white, and it is everywhere speckled and spotted, nowhere very thickly, but most so in a zone near one end, with pale ferruginous. It measured 0·67 by 0·51.

160. Turdinus abbotti (Bl.). Abbott's Babbler.

Trichastoma abbotti (Bl.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 17.

Abbott's Babbler breeds throughout Burma in suitable localities. Writing from Kyeikpadein, in Southern Pegu, Mr. Oates says:--"On the 22nd May I found a nest with two eggs nearly hatched, and on 23rd of same month another with two eggs, one of which was fresh and the other incubated. This bird builds in thick undergrowth, and the nest is built at a height of about 2 feet from the ground. I have found very many of their nests, but, with the above exceptions, the young had flown. It is generally attached to a stout weed or two, and consists of two portions. First, a platform of dead leaves about 6 inches in diameter and 1 deep, placed loosely, and on this the nest proper is built. This consists of a small cup, the interior diameter of which is 2 inches, and depth 1½. It is formed entirely of fine black fern-roots well woven together. Stout weeds appear favourite sites, but I have found old nests in dwarf palm-trees at the junction of the frond with the trunk, and in one instance I found an old nest on the ground, undoubtedly belonging to this bird. Three eggs measured ·84 by ·66, ·82 by ·67, and ·87 by ·65. They are very glossy and smooth. The ground-colour is a pale pinkish white. At the cap there are a few spots and short lines of inky-purple sunk into the shell, and over the whole egg, very sparingly distributed, there are spots and irregular fine scrawls of reddish brown. A few of the marks are neither spots nor scrawls, but something like knots. The cap is suffused with a darker tinge of pink than are the other parts of the shell.

"A third nest, found on the 10th June, contained three eggs, and differed from those above described in being very massive. It was composed of dead leaves and fern-roots, and measured about 5 inches in exterior diameter, with the egg-cup about 2½ inches broad and 2 inches deep. It was placed on some entangled small plants about 2 feet from the ground. Of these eggs I noted that before being blown the shell was of a ruddy salmon colour. The marks are much as in the others described above."

The eggs are moderately broad ovals, somewhat pointed at times towards the small end, and occasionally slightly pyriform. The shell is fine and glossy; the ground-colour is pinky white, with a redder shade about the large end. A few streaks, spots, and hieroglyphics of a deep brownish red, each more or less surrounded by a reddish nimbus, are scattered very thinly about the surface of the egg, while, besides these, a few small greyish-purple subsurface-looking spots may be observed about the larger end. The average size of the seven eggs I possess is 0·82 by 0·64.

163. Alcippe nepalensis (Hodgs.). The Nepal Babbler.

Alcippe nipalensis (Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 18; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 388.

The Nepal Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, breeds from March to May, building a deep, massive, cup-shaped nest, firmly fastened between two or three upright shoots, and laying three or four eggs, which are figured as measuring 0·7 by 0·55. He has the following note:--

"Valley, April 1st.--A pair and nest. Nest is round, 4 inches deep on the outside and 2 inches within, and the same wide, being of the usual soup-basin shape and open at the top, made of dry leaves bound together with hair-like grass-fibres and moss-roots, which also form the lining, further compacted by spiders' webs, which, being also twisted round three adjacent twigs, form the suspenders of the nest, the bottom of which does not rest upon anything; attached to a low bush 1½ foot from the ground. The nest contained three eggs of a pinkish-white ground thickly spotted with chestnut, the spots being almost entirely confluent at the large end."

Dr. Jerdon says:--"I had the nest and eggs brought me by the Lepchas. The nest was loosely made with grass and bamboo-leaves, and the eggs were white with a few reddish-brown spots."

A nest of this species was found near Darjeeling in July, at an elevation of between 3000 and 4000 feet. It was situated in a small bush, in low brushwood, and placed only about 2 feet from the ground. The nest is a compactly made and moderately deep cup. The exterior portion of the nest is composed of bamboo-leaves, more or less held in their places by fine horsehair-like black roots, with which also the cavity is very thickly and neatly lined. Exteriorly the nest is about 3·75 inches in diameter, and nearly 3 in height. The cavity is 2·25 in diameter and 1·6 in depth.

The nest contained three nearly fresh eggs. The eggs are moderately elongated ovals, very regular and slightly pointed towards the small end. The shell is fine and exhibits a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white or pinkish white, and they are very minutely speckled all over with purplish red. The specklings exhibit a decided tendency to form a more or less perfect, and more or less confluent, cap or zone at the large end.

Two of the eggs measure 0·72 and 0·71 in length, and 0·54 and 0·52 in breadth.

From Sikhim, Mr. Gammie writes:--"I have only found this Babbler breeding in May at elevations about 5000 feet, but it doubtless breeds also at much lower elevations, probably down to 2000 feet. The nests are placed within 2 or 3 feet of the ground, between several slender upright shoots, to which they are firmly attached. They are exceedingly neat and compact-built cups, measuring externally about 4 inches across by 2·75 deep, internally 2·15 wide by 1·6 deep. They are composed of dry bamboo-leaves held together by a little grass and very fine, hair-like fern-roots. The egg-cavity is lined with fern-roots.