Part 66

Captain Hutton says:--"This species arrives in the hills up to 7000 feet at least, in April, when it is very common, and appears in pairs with something of the manner of a Phylloscopus. The note is a sharp tchick, tchick, resembling the sound emitted by a flint and steel.

"It disappears by the end of May, in which month they breed; but, owing to the high winds and strong weather experienced in that month in 1848, many nests were left incomplete, and the birds must have departed without breeding.

"One nest, which I took on the 6th May, was a round ball with a lateral entrance; it was placed in a thick barberry-bush growing at the side of a deep and sheltered ditch; it was composed of coarse dry grasses externally and lined with finer grass. Eggs three and pearl-white, with minute scattered specks of rufous, chiefly at the larger end. Diameter 0·62 by 0·5."

The late Mr. A. Anderson wrote the following note:--"On the fifth day after leaving Naini Tal--ever mindful of my friend Mr. Brooks's parting advice to me (in reference to the part of the country which required to be investigated), 'avoid the lower hills as the plague'--I reached Takula, which is the first march beyond Almora on the road to the Pindari glacier, late on the evening of the 10th of May. It rained heavily all that night, so that I was obliged to halt the next day, my tents being far too wet to be struck, and the distance to the next halting-place necessitating a start the first thing in the morning.

"Takula is at an elevation between 5000 and 6000 feet; it is beautifully wooded, with a small mountain-stream flowing right under the camping-ground, and the climate is delightful. All things considered, I was not sorry at having an opportunity of exploring such productive-looking ground; and before it was fairly daylight the next morning operations were commenced in right earnest. To each of my collectors I apportioned off a well-wooded mountain-slope, reserving for my own hunting-ground (as I had not yet got my hill-legs) the water-courses and ravines in the immediate vicinity of my camp.

"Not more than 20 yards from where my tent stood, there is a deep ravine clothed on both banks with a dense jungle of the larger kind of nettle (Girardinia heterophylla: such nettles too!), the hilldock (Rumea nepalensis), and wild-rose trees. Wending my way through this dark, damp, and muggy nullah to the best of my ability, I came upon the nest of this interesting little bird; it was placed in the centre of a rose-bush, at an elevation of some two feet above the bank and about four feet from where I stood, but yet in a most tantalizing situation, inasmuch as it was necessary to remove several thorny branches before an examination of the nest was possible.

"The act of cutting away the branches alarmed my sombre little friend (I knew that the nest was tenanted, as the bill and head were distinctly visible through the lateral entrance), and out she darted with such a 'whir' that anything like satisfactory identification for a bird of this sort was utterly hopeless. The nest contained four beautiful little eggs, so that to bag the parent bird was a matter of the first importance; all my attempts, however, first to capture her on the nest and next to shoot her as she flew off, were equally futile, her movements being as rapid and erratic as forked lightning. And here let me give a word of advice to my brother ornithologists: Never attempt to shoot a wary little bird in the act of leaving its nest, as you only run the risk, and mortification I may add, of wounding perhaps an unknown bird, in which case she will never again return to her nest; but lie in ambush for her with, outlying scants, and make certain of her as she is returning to her nest. She will first alight on a neighbouring tree, then on one closer, coming nearer and nearer each time; finally, she will perch on the very tree or bush in which the nest is built, and while taking a look round to see that all is well before making a final ascent, you have yourself to blame if you fail to bag her. All this sounds very cruel; but if a bird must be shot for scientific purposes, it is surely preferable to kill it outright than to let it die a lingering death. Thus it was that I eventually succeeded, even at the expense of being devoured alive by midges and mosquitoes; but then had I not the satisfaction of knowing that to become the happy possessor of authentic eggs of Acrocephalus dumetorum was in itself sufficient to repay me for my hill excursion!

"I cannot, however, pretend to lay claim to originality in the discovery of the breeding-habits of this bird, for Hutton's description of the nest and eggs taken by him so fully accords with my own experience, that it is but fair to conclude he was correct in his identification. I would add, however, with reference to his remarks, that the nest above alluded to was more elliptical than spherical, being about the size and shape of an Ostrich's egg, that it was constructed throughout of the largest and coarsest blades of various kinds of dry grass, the egg-cavity being lined with grass-bents of a finer quality, and that it was domed over, having a lateral entrance about the middle of the nest. The whole structure was so loosely put together as to fall to pieces immediately it was removed.

"The eggs, four in number, are pure while, beautifully glossed, and well covered with rufous or reddish-brown specks, most numerous at the obtuse end. Owing to its similarity to a number of eggs, particularly to those of the Titmouse group, it is just one of those that I would never feel comfortable in accepting on trust.

"It was a remarkable coincidence that the very day I took this nest my post brought me part iv. of the P.Z.S. for 1874, containing Mr. Dresser's interesting paper on the nidification of the Hypolais and Acrocephalus groups; and if I understand him rightly, he is certainly correct in his surmise as to the eggs of Acrocephalus dumetorum approaching those of the Hypolais group.

"My good luck, as regards Blyth's Reed-Warbler, did not end here, for on the following day, at Bagesur, at an elevation of only 3000 feet, I again encountered a pair of these birds, finding their nest on the banks of the Surjoo. The position, shape, and architecture of this nest were identical with the one I have above described, but the eggs unfortunately had not been laid. The little birds, on this occasion, were quite fearless, hopping from stem to stem of the dense undergrowth which throughout the Bagesur valley fringes both banks of the river, every now and again making a temporary halt for the purpose of picking insects off the leaves, with an occasional 'tchick,' which Hutton resembles to the 'sound emitted by a flint and steel,' but all the time enticing me away from the site of their dwelling-place. In this way they led me a wild-goose chase several times up and down the river-bank before I was able to discover the whereabouts of their nest."

Captain Hutton sent me three eggs of this species. The eggs are otherwise unknown to me, and I describe them only on Captain Hutton's authority. The eggs are rather broad ovals, very smooth and compact in texture, but with little or no gloss. They are pure white, very thinly speckled with reddish and yellowish brown, the markings being most numerous towards the large end, and even there somewhat sparse and very minute. They measure respectively 0·65 by 0·52, 0·65 by 0·51, and 0·62 by 0·51.

367. Acrocephalus agricola (Jerd.). The Paddy-field Reed-Warbler.

Acrocephalus agricolus (Jerd.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 156. Calamodyta agricola (Jerd.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 517.

The Paddy-field Reed-Warbler nests apparently occasionally in May and Jane in the valleys of the Himalayas, the great majority probably going further north-west to breed.

Very little is known about the matter. I have shot the birds in the interior of the hills in May, but I have never seen a nest.

Mr. Brooks, however, says:--"Near Shupyion (Cashmere) I found a finished empty nest of this truly aquatic warbler in a rose-bush which was intergrown with rank nettles. This was in the roadside where there was a shallow stream of beautifully clear water. On either side of the road were vast tracts of paddy swamp, in which the natives were busily engaged planting the young rice-plants. The nest strongly resembled that of Curruca garrula. The male with his throat puffed out was singing on the bush a loud vigorous pretty song like a Lesser Whitethroat's, but more varied. I shot the strange songster, on which the female flew from the nest. This was the only pair of these interesting birds that I met with. I think, therefore, that their breeding in Cashmere is not a common occurrence."

This nest, now in my collection, was found on the 13th June, at an elevation of about 5500 feet, in the Valley of Cashmere. It is a deep, almost purse-like cup, very loosely and carelessly put together, of moderately fine grass, in amongst which a quantity of wool has been intermingled.

371. Tribura thoracica (Blyth). The Spotted Bush-Warbler.

Dumeticola affinis (Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 158. Dumeticola brunneipectus, Bl., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 519 bis.

Mr. Hodgson gives a very careful figure of a female bird of this species, together with its nest and egg, but he labels it underneath affinis. As we know, he described affinis as having spots on the breast; but he further notes that at the same place at which he obtained the female, nest, and eggs, he also got a male bird with spots on the breast; in fact, in other words, he seems to have come to the conclusion that Dumeticola affinis was the male and that Dumeticola brunneipectus, which he did not separately name, though he has beautifully figured it, was the female. I have specimens of both, but the sexes were not ascertained; still I doubt whether the two birds can possibly be merely different sexes of the same species. Anyhow, the female bird which he figures (No. 826) is really brunneipectus, and under that name I notice the nest and eggs on which the female figured was captured. Mr. Hodgson notes:--"Gosainthan. In the snows; female and nest.

"August 2nd.--Nest in a bunch of reeds placed slantingly: ovate in shape; aperture at one side; placed about half a foot above the ground, made of grasses and moss, 4 or 5 inches in diameter exteriorly, interiorly between 2 and 3 inches." The eggs are figured as moderately broad ovals, measuring 0·65 by 0·48, of a uniform deep cinnabar-red, reminding one of the eggs of Prinia socialis, but much deeper in colour.

Mr. Mandelli sends me three nests of this species, all found near Yendong, in Native Sikhim, at an elevation of about 9000 feet, on the 15th, 17th, and 21st July. The nests contained two, two, and three fresh eggs respectively, and were placed, two of them in small brushwood, and one in a clump of rush or grass, from 9 to 18 inches above the ground. They seem to have all been rather massive little cups, composed exteriorly of broad grass-blades rather clumsily wound together, and lined with rather finer, but by no means fine grass. In two of them some dead leaves have been incorporated in the basal portion.

They are rather dirty, shabby-looking nests, obviously made of dead materials, old withered and partially-decayed grass, and not with fresh grass; they seem to have measured 3 inches in diameter, and 2·5 in height externally; the cavity was perhaps 1·5 to 1·75 in diameter, and 1 inch more or less in depth.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"Nest among scrub in small bush, 2 feet from ground, at 5000 feet above the sea. Found on the 3rd June, when it contained two eggs; taken on the 5th, with four eggs. I dissected the bird killed off the nest, and found it to be a female; in her stomach were the remains of a few insects. The nest is cup-shaped, loosely made of dry leaves and grass, lined with, for the size of the bird, coarse grass-stalks. Externally it measures 3·5 inches in breadth by 2·5 deep; internally 2 broad by 1·5 deep."

This nest taken by Mr. Gammie near Rungbee on the 5th June, 1875, at an elevation of about 5000 feet, contained four eggs. It was a massive little cup about 3 inches in diameter externally, and with an internal cavity about 2 inches in diameter and 1¾ inch deep; was rather loosely put together, externally composed of dead leaves and broad flags of grass, internally lined with grass-stems.

The eggs of this species are very regular broad ovals, the shells fine but glossless, the ground-colour a dead white, thickly speckled and spotted about the large end, thinly elsewhere, with somewhat brownish and again purplish red. The markings are all very fine and small, but where they are closely set at the large end there a few little pale purplish-grey specks and spots are intermingled.

The eggs measure 0·68 by 0·55.