Part 92

Colonel Legge writes in his 'Birds of Ceylon':--"This bird breeds in the Jaffna district and on the north-west coast from February until May. Mr. Holdsworth found its nest in a thorn-bush about 6 feet high, near the compound of his bungalow, in the beginning of February.... Layard speaks of the young being fledged in June at Point Pedro, and says that it builds in Euphorbia-trees in that district."

The eggs of this species, sent me by Captain Hutton from the Doon and by numerous correspondents from the Nilghiris, are indistinguishable from many types of L. erythronotus, and indeed the birds are so closely allied that this was only to be expected. It is unnecessary to describe these at length, as my description of the eggs of L. erythronotus applies equally to these.

In size the eggs, however, vary less and average longer than those of this latter species. In length they range from 0·93 to 1 inch, and in breadth from 0·7 to 0·72 inch, but the average of twenty was 0·95 by 0·7 inch.

477. Lanius tephronotus (Vigors). The Grey-backed Shrike.

Lanius tephronotus (Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 403. Collyrio tephronotus, Vigors, Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 258.

As far as I yet know, the Grey-backed Shrike breeds, within our limits, only in the Himalayas, and chiefly in the interior, at heights of from 5000 to 8000 feet above the sea-level. In the interior of Sikhim, in the Sutlej Valley near Chini, in Lahoul, and well up the valley of the Beas, they are pretty common during the summer; they lay from May to July, and the young are about by the end of July or the early part of August. I have never seen a nest, although I have had eggs and birds sent me from both Sikhim and the Sutlej Valley. There were only two eggs in each case, but doubtless, like other Shrikes, they lay from four to six.

Mr. Blanford remarks that L. tephronotus was "common at Láchung, in Sikhim, 8000 to 9000 feet, in the beginning of September, but three weeks later all had disappeared. Many of those seen were in young plumage, with hair on the breast, back, and scapulars."

Colonel C.H.T. Marshall records from Murree:--"This species much resembles L. erythronotus, but the eggs differ considerably, being more creamy white, blotched and spotted (more particularly at the larger end) with pale red and grey. They are the same size as those of the preceding species. Lays in the beginning of July at the same elevation as L. erythronotus."

As to the size I cannot concur with the above.

Colonel Marshall has since kindly sent me two of the eggs above referred to; they are clearly, it seems to me, eggs of Dicrurus longicaudatus, or the slightly smaller hill-form named himalayanus, Tytler.

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"A nest found at about three feet from the ground in a thick bush at Bheem Tal, at the edge of the lake, contained five fresh eggs on the 28th May: the nest was a coarsely built massive cup; the eggs were about the same size as those of L. erythronotus, but the spots were larger and less closely gathered than is usual with that species."

Dr. Scully says:--"The Grey-backed Shrike is common in the Valley of Nepal from about the end of September to the middle of March; it is the only Shrike found in the Valley during the winter season, but it migrates further north to breed. In December it was fairly common about Chitlang, which is higher than Kathmandu, but seemed to be entirely replaced in the Hetoura Dun by L. nigriceps. It frequents gardens, groves, and cultivated ground, perching on bushes and hedges and small bare trees. It has a very harsh chattering note, louder than that of L. nigriceps, and appears to be most noisy towards sunset, when its cry would often lead one to suppose that the bird was being strangled in the clutches of a raptor."

Mr. O. Möller has kindly furnished me with the following note:--"On the 7th June, 1879, my men brought a nest containing four fresh eggs, together with a bird of the present species; I send two of the eggs: perhaps you recollect the eggs of L. tephronotus, in which case you of course will be able to see at a glance if I am correct. I have never come across such large eggs of L. nigriceps, the eggs of which also as a rule have well-defined spots and no blotches; the two other eggs the nest contained measure 1 by 0·74, and 1·01 by 0·76 inch."

The eggs of this species are of the ordinary Shrike type, moderately elongated ovals, a little compressed towards the small end. The shell extremely smooth and compact, but with scarcely any perceptible gloss. The ground-colour pale greenish or yellowish white; the markings chiefly confined to a broad irregular ill-defined zone round the large end--blotches, spots, specks, and smears of pale yellowish brown more or less intermingled with small clouds and spots of pale sepia-grey or inky purple. In some eggs a good number of the smaller markings and occasionally one or two larger ones are scattered over the entire surface of the egg, but typically the bulk of the markings are comprised within the zone above referred to.

In length four eggs vary from 0·97 to 1·06 inch, and in breadth from 0·76 to 0·81 inch.

481. Lanius cristatus, Linn. The Brown Shrike.

Lanius cristatus, Linn., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 406: Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 261.

I am induced to notice this species, the Brown Shrike, although I possess no detailed information as to its nidification, in consequence of Lord Walden's remarks on this subject in 'The Ibis' of 1867. He says "Does it, then, cross the vast ranges of the Himalaya in its northern migration? or does it not rather find on the southern slopes and in the valleys of those mountains all the conditions suitable for nesting?"; and he adds in a note, "It is extremely doubtful whether any passerine bird which frequents the plains of India during the cooler months crosses to the north of the snowy ranges of the Himalaya after quitting the plains to escape the rainy season or the intense heat of summer."

Now, it is quite certain, as I have shown in 'Lahore to Yarkand,' that several of our Indian passerine birds do cross the entire succession of Snowy Ranges which divide the plains of India from Central Asia, and it is tolerably certain from my researches and those of numerous contributors that L. cristatus breeds only north of these ranges. True, Tickell gives the following account of the nidification of this species in the plains of India:--

"Nest found in large bushes or thickets, shallow, circular, 4 inches in diameter, rather coarsely made of fine twigs and grass. Eggs three, ordinary; 29/32 by 21/32: pale rose-colour, thickly sprinkled with blood-red spots, with a darkish livid zone at the larger end.--June." But Tickell, though he warns us at the commencement of his paper (Journal As. Soc. 1848, p. 297) of the "attempts at duplicity of which the wary oologist must take good heed," gives the egg of the Sarus as plain white, and says he has seen upwards of a dozen like this, those of the Roller as full deep Antwerp blue, those of Cypselus palmarum as white with large spots of deep claret-brown, and so on, and it is quite clear that his supposed eggs and nest of L. cristatus belonged to one of the Bulbuls.

Of more than fifty oologists who have collected for me at different times in hills and plains, from the Nilghiris to Huzára on the one side, and to Sikhim on the other, not one has ever met with a nest of L. cristatus. This is doubtless purely negative evidence, but it is still entitled to considerable weight.

From the valleys of the Beas and the Sutlej, as also from Kumaon and Gurhwal, these Shrikes seem to disappear entirely during the summer, and they are then, as we also know, found breeding in Yarkand. It is only in the latter part of the autumn that they reappear in the former named localities, finding their way by the commencement of the cold season to the foot of the hills.

Mr. R. Thompson, to quote one of many close observers, remarks:--"This bird appears regularly at Huldwanee and Rumnugger at the foot of the Kumaon Hills during the cold weather, confining itself to thick hedges and deep groves of trees. Where it goes to in summer I cannot say, it certainly does not remain in our hills."

484. Hemipus picatus (Sykes). The Black-backed Pied Shrike.

Hemipus picatus (Sykes), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 412; Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no 267.

I quite agree with Mr. Gray that this bird is a Flycatcher and not a Shrike; no one in fact who has watched it in life can have any doubt on this subject; but yet, except for their being more strongly marked, its eggs have no doubt a very Shrike-like character, at the same time that they exhibit many affinities to those of Rhipidura albifrontata and other undoubted Flycatchers.

Mr. W. Davison says:--"About the first week in March 1871, I found at Ootacamund a nest of this bird placed in the fork of one of the topmost branches of a rather tall Berberis leschenaulti. For the size of the bird this was an exceedingly small shallow nest, and from its position between the fork, its size, and the materials of which it was composed externally, might very easily have passed unnoticed; the bird sitting on it appeared to be sitting only on a small lump of moss and lichen, the whole of the bird's tail, and as low down as the lower part of the breast, being visible. The nest was composed of grass and fine roots covered externally with cobweb and pieces of a grey lichen, and bits of moss taken apparently from the same tree on which the nest was built: the eggs were three in number. The tree on which this nest was built was opposite my window, and I watched the birds building for nearly a week; and, again, when having the nest taken, the birds sat till the native lad I had sent up put out his hand to take the nest. I am absolutely certain, as to the identity of this nest and these eggs."

The eggs brought me by Mr. Davison, of the authenticity of which he is positive, are very Shrike-like in their appearance; they are rather elongated ovals, somewhat obtuse at both ends, and entirely devoid of gloss. The ground-colour is a pale greenish or greyish white, and they are profusely blotched, spotted, and streaked with darker and lighter shades of umber-brown; in both eggs these markings are more or less confluent along a broad zone, which in one egg encircles the larger, in the other the smaller end: these eggs measure 0·7 by 0·5 inch and 0·69 by 0·49 inch.