Part 41

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I have only myself taken two nests of this common species. I found both of them the same day (the 21st May), in the Chinchona reserves, at an elevation of about 5000 feet. Both nests were in the forest, built on the outer branches of trees, at heights the one of 15, the other of 40 feet from the ground. The nests were cup-shaped, and very neatly made of moss, leaves and fibres, and lined with black fibres. One measured externally 4·6 in diameter by 2·75 in height, and internally 2·4 in diameter and 1·7 in depth. One nest contained two fresh, the other two hard-set eggs; so perhaps two is the normal number, though the natives say that they lay three. As might be expected from the bird's habit of feeding on the insects on moss-covered trees in moist forests, the nests were in forest by the sides of streams."

The eggs are rather broad, slightly pyriform ovals, often a good deal pulled out as it were at the small end. The shell is fine, but almost entirely devoid of gloss. The ground-colour is a pale greenish white or very pale bluish green. The markings are various and complicated: first there are usually a few large, irregular, moderately dark brownish-red spots and splashes; then there are a very few, very dark, reddish-brown hair-lines, such as one finds on Buntings' eggs; then there is a good deal of clouding and smudging here and there of pale, dingy purplish or brownish red (all these markings are most numerous towards the large end); and then besides these, and almost entirely confined to the large end, are a few pale purple specks and spots. Sometimes the markings are almost wholly confined to the thicker end of the egg. Of course the eggs vary somewhat, and in some specimens the characteristic Bunting-like hair-lines are almost wholly wanting. The eggs vary in length from 0·95 to 1·0, and in breadth from 0·66 to 0·72.

205. Lioptila gracilis (McClell.). The Grey Sibia.

Malacias gracilis (McClell.), Hume, cat. no. 429 bis.

Colonel Godwin-Austen is, I believe, the only ornithologist who has as yet secured the nest and eggs of the Grey Sibia. He says:--"In the pine forest that covers the slopes of the hills descending into the Umian valley in Assam, one of my men marked a nest on June 25th; I proceeded to the spot soon after I had heard of it, and on coming up to the tree, a pine, saw the female fly off out of the head of it. But the nest was so well hidden by the boughs of the fir, that it was quite invisible from below. The bird after a short time came back, and then I saw it was Sibia gracilis; but it was very shy and seeing us went off again, and hung about the trees at a distance of some 50 yards; while thus waiting, some four or five others were also seen. The female, however, would not venture back, and I sent one of my Goorkhas up, to cut off the head of the fir, nest and all, first taking out the eggs. It contained three, of a pale sea-green, with ash-brown streakings and blotchings all over.

"The nest was constructed of dry grass, moss, and rootlets, and the green spinules of the fir were worked into it, fixing it most firmly in its place in the crown of the pine where it was much forked."

206. Lioptila melanoleuca (Bl.). Tickell's Sibia.

Malacias melanoleucus (Bl.), Hume, cat. no. 429 quart.

Mr. W. Davison was fortunate enough to secure a nest of this Sibia on Muleyit mountain in Tenasserim. He says:--"I secured a nest of this species on the 21st of February, containing two spotless pale blue eggs slightly incubated. The nest, a deep compactly woven cup, was placed about 40 feet from the ground, in the fork of one of the smaller branches of a high tree growing on the edge of a deep ravine.

"The egg-cavity of the nest is lined with fern-roots, fibres and fine grass-stems; outside this is a thick coating of dried bamboo-leaves and coarse grass, and outside this again is a thick irregular coating of green moss, dried leaves, and coarse fibres and fern-roots.

"Externally the nest measures about 5 inches in height, and nearly the same in external diameter at the top.

"The egg-cavity measures 1·7 deep by 2·7 across.

"The eggs, a pale spotless blue, measure 0·95 and 0·98 in length by 0·66 and 0·68 in breadth."

211. Actinodura egertoni, Gould. The Rufous Bar-wing.

Actinodura egertoni, Gould, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 52; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 427.

There is no figure of the Rufous Bar-wing's nest or eggs amongst the original drawings of Mr. Hodgson now in my custody, but in the British Museum series there appears to be, since Mr. Blyth remarks:--"Mr. Hodgson figures the nest of this bird like that of an English Redbreast, with pinkish-white eggs."

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"On the 27th April I took a nest of this Bar-wing in a large forest at an elevation of about 5000 feet. It was placed about 20 feet from the ground, in a leafy tree, between several upright shoots, to which it was firmly attached. It is cup-shaped, mainly composed of dry leaves held together by slender climber-stems, and lined with dark-coloured fibrous roots. A few strings of green moss were twined round the outside to assist in concealment. Externally it measures 4·2 inches wide by 4 deep; internally 2·8 wide and 2·4 deep. It contained but two slightly-set eggs.

"I killed the female off the nest."

Several nests have been obtained and sent me by Messrs. Gammie and Mandelli. One was taken on the 4th May by Mr. Mandelli, at Lebong, at an elevation of 5500 feet, which contained three fresh eggs; this was placed on the branches of a small tree, in the midst of dense brushwood, at a height of about 4 feet from the ground.

Another, taken in a similar situation at the same place on the 22nd May, contained two fresh eggs, and was at a height of about 12 feet from the ground.

These nests vary just in the same way as do those of Trochalopterum nigrimentum; some show only a sprig or two of moss about them, while others have a complete coating of green moss. They are cup-shaped, some deeper, some shallower; the chief material of the nest seems to be usually dry leaves. One before me is composed entirely of some Polypodium, on which the seed-spores are all fully developed; in another, bamboo-leaves have been chiefly used; these are all held together in their places by black fibrous roots; occasionally towards the upper margin a few creeper-tendrils are intermingled. The whole cavity is lined more or less thickly, and the lip of the cup all round is usually finished of with these same black fibrous roots; and then outside all moss and selaginella are applied according to the taste of the bird and, probably, the situation--a few sprigs or a complete coating, as the case may be.

Two eggs of this species sent me by Mr. Gammie are regular, slightly elongated ovals, with very thin and fragile shells, and fairly but not highly glossy. The ground is a delicate pale sea-green, and they are profusely blotched, spotted, and marked with curious hieroglyphic-like figures of a sort of umber-brown; while about the larger end numerous spots and streaks of pale lilac occur.

These eggs measure 0·98 in length, by 0·65 and 0·68 in breadth.

Other eggs obtained by Mr. Mandelli early in June are quite of the same type, but somewhat shorter, measuring 0·85 and 0·93 in length by 0·68 and 0·7 in breadth. But the markings are rather more smudgy and rather paler, and there are fewer of the hair-like streaks and hieroglyphics.

213. Ixops nepalensis (Hodgs.). The Hoary Bar-wing.

Actinodura nipalensis (Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 53; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 428.

The Hoary Bar-wing is said in Mr. Hodgson's notes to breed from April to June in Sikhim and the central region of Nepal up to an elevation of 4000 or 6000 feet. The nest is placed in holes, in crevices between rocks and stones; is circular and saucer-shaped. One measured externally 3·62 in diameter by 2 inches in height; the cavity measured 2·5 in diameter and 1·37 in depth. The nest is composed of fine twigs, grass, and fibres, and externally adorned with little pieces of lichen, and internally lined with fine moss-roots. The birds are said to lay from three to four eggs, which are not described, but they are figured as pinky white, about 0·85 in length and 0·55 in width. Mr. Blyth, however, remarks:--"One of Mr. Hodgson's drawings represents a white egg with ferruginous spots, disposed much as in that of Merula vulgaris."

Clearly there is some mistake here. Most of the drawings I have are the originals, taken from the fresh specimens when they were obtained, with Mr. Hodgson's own notes, on the reverse, of the dates on and places at which he took or obtained the eggs, nests, and birds figured, with often a description and dimensions of the two former, and invariably full dimensions of the latter. On the other hand, the drawings in the British Museum are mostly more finished and artistic copies of these originals; so how the spots got on to the eggs of the British-Museum drawing I cannot say; there is no trace of such in mine.