Part 10

Several nests of this species that I have now seen have all been of the same type, large nests 9 or 10 inches in diameter, and 4 to 5 in height, the body of the nest composed mainly of green moss interwoven with and bound round about with the stems of creepers and a few pliant twigs, many of which straggle away a good deal outside the limits which I have assigned in stating the dimensions above. The cavities are not quite hemispherical, a little shallower, say 4·5 inches in diameter and 2 inches in depth, closely lined with fine black roots. They have all been placed in the branches of trees at heights of from 8 to 20 feet.

Eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie in May, and Mr. Mandelli in July, are of precisely the same type. They are rather elongated ovals, a good deal pointed towards the small end, near which they are not unfrequently a good deal compressed, so as to render the egg slightly pyriform. The shell is fine and smooth, but has little gloss. The ground-colour is a very pale greenish blue or bluish green, in some almost white; some of them are absolutely spotless, none of them are at all well marked, but some bear from half a dozen to a dozen tiny specks of a dark colour. On one only there is a triangular spot about 0·05 each way, which proves on examination with a microscope to be a deep brownish red. On the other eggs the markings are mere specks.

The eggs vary from 1·25 to 1·35 in length, and from 0·89 to 0·92 in breadth.

104. Argya earlii (Blyth). _The Striated Babbler_.

Chatarrhaea earlii (_Blyth), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 68; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 439.

The Striated Babbler breeds in suitable localities throughout Continental India, from Sindh to Tipperah and Assam, as also in Burmah. Reedy-margined lakes, canals and perennial streams are its favourite haunts, and wherever within the limits above indicated these abound, and the locality is moist and warm, _A. earlii_ is pretty sure to be met with.

They lay twice during the year, between the latter end of March and the early part of September, building a neat, compact, and rather massive cup-shaped nest, either between the close-growing reeds, to three or more of which it is firmly bound, or in some little bush or shrub more or less surrounded by high reed-grass. The broad leaves and stringy roots of the reed, common grass, and grass-roots are the materials of which it generally constructs its nest, which varies much in size, according to the situation and fineness of the material used. I have seen them composed almost wholly of reed-leaves, fully 7 inches in diameter and 5 in height, and again built entirely of fine grass-stems not more than 4 inches across and 3 inches in height. When semi-suspended between reeds, they are always smaller and more compact, while when placed in a fork of a low bush they are larger and more straggling. The cavity (always neatly finished off, but very rarely regularly lined, and then only with very fine grass-stems or roots) is usually about 3 inches in diameter by 2 inches in depth.

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall remarks:--"In the Saharunpoor District _A. earlii_ commences building about the middle of March, and the young are hatched towards the middle of April. The nest is usually placed in the middle of a tuft of Sarkerry grass, and sometimes in a bush or small tree, generally 3 or 4 feet from the ground. It is a deep cup-shaped structure, rather neatly made of grass without lining, and woven in with the stems if in a clump of grass, or firmly fixed in a fork if in a bush or low tree. The interior diameter is about 3 inches, and the depth nearly 2 inches. The eggs, four in number, are of a clear blue colour without spots of any kind. In shape they are oval, rather thinner at one end; the shell is smooth and thin. The eggs are of the same colour, but considerably larger than those of _Argya caudata. Argya earlii_ breeds commonly in the Sub-Siwalik District of the Doab; it seems fond of water, as most of the nests I have found were close to the canal bank. It is gregarious even in the breeding-season; small flocks of seven or eight keeping together, fluttering in and out of the low bushes, but seldom alighting on the ground, and occasionally making a noisy chattering cry, especially when disturbed."

From the Pegu District Mr. Oates writes:--"I found two nests on the 24th May, one quite empty though finished, the other containing three eggs.

"The nests were placed a few feet apart in an immensely thick patch of elephant-grass, the undergrowth being fine, once tall, but now dead, grass. It was upon this dead stuff, which in May is much flattened down, that I found the nests. They were not attached to anything, but simply laid in a depressed platform about a foot above the ground, in among the thickest of the stalks of elephant-grass.

"The nest is a bulky structure, some 6 or 8 inches in external diameter, and 4 inches in height, composed chiefly of coarse reeds, becoming finer interiorly till the egg-cup is reached, where the grasses employed are tolerably fine and neatly interwoven. The cavity itself is more than a hemisphere, the diameter being 3 inches and the depth about 2 inches.

"The eggs are of a beautiful blue colour, rather pointed at one end."

Colonel Tickell has the following note on the nidification of this species in the Asiatic Society Journal, 1848, p. 301:--

"_Burra phenga_.--Nest hemispherical, of grasses rather loosely interwoven; generally on bushes in jungle. Eggs two to four; rather lengthened shape; clear, full, verditer blue.--June."

Mr. J.R. Cripps writes of this bird in Eastern Bengal:--"Very common, and a permanent resident, keeping to grass-fields in small parties of seven to ten. Very noisy. On the 2nd December, 1877, I found a nest with three slightly-incubated eggs in a small babool bush which stood in a 'sone' grass-field. The nest was a deep cup, whose foundation was a few leaves over which sone-grass was woven rather loosely. Lining of fine grass-roots. The nest was placed in amongst some coarse grass which grew up in the centre of the bush, and was three feet from the ground. External height 4, diameter 4¼, internal diameter 2½, depth 2½ inches. Both Messrs. Marshall and Hume in their works on 'Birds' Nesting' give March and September as the two periods for these birds to lay, but the clutch I found were exceptionally late."

Mr. J. Inglis writes from Cachar:--"The Striated Reed-Babbler is exceedingly common during the whole year. It breeds from March onwards, making its nest in longish grass."

The eggs closely resemble those of _A. caudata_ both in colour and shape, but they are conspicuously larger. To judge from Hewitson's figure, for I have never seen the egg, they in shape, size, and colour closely resemble the eggs of _Accentor alpinus_, some I have being very slightly larger, and others exactly the same size as the figure referred to.

In length the eggs vary from 0·78 to 1·01, and in breadth from 0·65 to 0·75, but the average of a large series is 0·88 by 0·7.

105. Argya caudata (Duméril). _The Common Babbler_.

Chatarrhaea caudata (_Dum.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 67; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E_ no. 438.

The Common Babbler breeds throughout India, not, however, ascending any of our many mountain-ranges to any great elevation.

They lay pretty well all the year round; at any rate from early in March, to early in September their eggs are common. Mr. W. Blewitt took a nest at Hansie on the 3rd January, and single nests are recorded by others as found in October, December, and February. They certainly have two broods a year, and perhaps more, the first being hatched from March to May, the second from June to August.

They build in low thorny bushes, and occasionally in clumps of high grass, the nest being rarely more than 3 feet from the ground. The nest itself is cup-shaped, and composed of grass and roots, often unlined, at times lined with very fine grass-stems or horse-hair. As a rule, it is neatly and compactly built, with a deep cavity some 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and 1·75 to 2·25 in depth, but I have seen straggling, ragged, and comparatively shallow nests of this species, having an external diameter of fully 7 inches. Three is the normal number of the eggs, but four are occasionally met with.

Mr. Brooks says:--"This species builds in much the same sort of places as _A. malcolmi_, but it chooses a low thick bush, the nest not being more than 3 feet from the ground. Nest neatly built of grass, roots, hair, &c., and the eggs bright bluish green, very glossy, and much resembling those of _Accentor modularis_."

Mr. R.M. Adam remarks:--"I took a nest of this bird in Oudh on the 22nd April. It contained a young bird and one unhatched egg. The nest was made of grass not well worked together, and had a lining of finer grass. The ground-work was composed of twigs and stems of creepers interlaced. The exterior diameter of the nest measured 5 inches, and the egg-cavity was 2 inches deep. In one case this bird did not lay till the fifth day after the nest was finished. About Agra this bird breeds during July and August.

"This Bush-Babbler is very common about the Sambhur lake. I have noted it breeding from the beginning of March till the beginning of July. Although this species generally prefers building in the hedges of prickly-pear, I have taken the nests in orange-trees, the karounda, the babool, &c."

Messrs. Davidson and Wenden state that in the Deccan it is "very common and breeds."

Major C.T. Bingham says:--"This bird, uncommon at Allahabad, is plentiful here at Delhi. I found several nests between March and June, all of the Babbler type, deep cups, rather more firmly built than those of the preceding bird, but constructed like them of coarse roots of grass, with finer ones for the inside. They are never placed at any great height from the ground, and generally in some thorny bush. I have found mostly three, rarely four eggs in any one nest."

Mr. Benjamin Aitken writes:--"I never saw the Common Babbler in Poona, and it certainly does not occur in Bombay. But it is very abundant on the arid plains of Berar, breeding in the low babool-bushes, where large numbers of its eggs are destroyed by lizards. I have found four eggs in a nest oftener than three."

Colonel Butler writes:--"The Common Babbler breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa principally during the monsoon; but I have found nests occasionally at other seasons of the year, as the following table of dates will show:--

"April 29, 1876. A nest containing 3 fresh eggs. "May 16, 1876. " " 3 fresh eggs. "May 21, 1876. " " 2 fresh eggs. "Nov. 15, 1876. " " 4 young birds.

"I found numerous nests from the middle of July to the beginning of September. On the 26th July, 1876, I saw upwards of a dozen nests, some containing fresh eggs, and others incubated. In many instances they contained eggs of _Coccystes jacobinus_. The nest is usually placed 3 or 4 feet from the ground in low thorny bashes (_Zizyphus jujuba_ preferred) or in a tussock of sarpat grass. It is built of twigs, roots, grass, &c., loosely put together exteriorly but closely woven interiorly, the lining being composed of fine roots and grass-stems. The eggs vary in number from three to five."

Lieut. H.E. Barnes, writing of Rajputana, says:--"The Striated Bush-Babbler breeds from March to July. The nest is usually placed in a low thorny bush, and is composed of grass-roots and stems; it is deep cup-shaped, neatly and compactly built."

The eggs are typically of a moderately elongated oval shape, slightly compressed towards one end, but more or less spherical and pyriform varieties occur; and I have one specimen, a very long pointed egg, which, so far as size and shape go, might pass for an egg of _Cypselus affinis_; and though this is a peculiarly abnormal shape, I have others which somewhat approach it in form. The eggs are glossy, often brilliantly so, and of a delicate, pure, spotless, somewhat pale blue. The shade of colour in this egg varies very little, and I have never met with either the very pale or very dark varieties common amongst the eggs of _C. canorus_ and occasionally found amongst those of _A. malcolmi_. In colour, size, and shape they are not very unlike those of our English Hedge-Sparrow, whose early eggs formed the prize of our first boyish nesting-expeditions, but they are slightly larger and typically somewhat more elongated.

In length they vary from 0·75 to 0·92, and in breadth from 0·6 to 0·7; but the average of one hundred and fifteen eggs measured was 0·82 by 0·64.

107. Argya malcolmi (Sykes). _The Large Grey Babbler_.

Malacocercus malcolmi (_Sykes_), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 64. Argya malcolmi (_Sykes_), _Hume_, _Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 436.

The Large Grey Babbler breeds throughout the central portions of both the Peninsula and Continent of India from the Nilghiris to the Dhoon. It does not extend westwards to Sindh or the North-West Punjab, or eastwards far into Bengal Proper. In the Central and North-West Provinces it lays from early in March well into September, having at least two and, as I believe, often three broods.

It builds on low branches of small trees or in thick shrubs, at no great elevation from the ground, say at heights of from 4 to 10 feet, a somewhat loosely woven, but yet generally neat, cup-shaped nest, composed, as a rule, chiefly of grass-roots, but often with an admixture of thin sticks and grass. Generally there is no lining, but I have found nests scantily lined with very fine grass and even horse-hair. Even when, as is the rule, entirely unlined, the inside is finished off very nicely and smoothly. I have often seen ragged and untidy nests, but these are the exception. Externally the nest is some 5 or 6 inches in diameter and 3 or 4 inches in height; the cavity is from 3 to 4 inches across and from 2 to nearly 3 inches in depth.

Four is the normal number of the eggs laid, but I have several notes of finding five.

Mr. Brooks says:--"This species breeds in waste lands overgrown with scanty jungle. The nest is made of sticks, roots, grass, &c., is rather bulky, and is placed in some moderate-sized bush about 7 or 8 feet from the ground. The eggs are greenish blue, bluer and not so brightly coloured as those of _C. terricolor_."

Mr. R.M. Adam remarks:--"Near Muttra, on the 31st October, I found a pair of birds busy lining the interior of a nest which they had built in a plum-tree. At the Sambhur lake it is very common, and commences to breed about the end of March."

Writing from Kotagherry (Nilghiris), Miss Cockburn remarks:--"Their nests are built of a few twigs and roots, very loosely put together (on some low branch of a tree), and so few of even these as hardly to keep the eggs from falling through. These Babblers lay four oval eggs of a greenish-blue colour, but I once saw a nest with eight, and as there were several of these birds close to it, I have no doubt two or three shared it together, perhaps to avoid the necessity of each pair building for itself. Their nests are found in the months of March and April.

"It is in the nests of this species and our Common Laughing-Thrush (_T. cachinnans_) that I have chiefly found the eggs of the Pied Crested Cuckoo."

Of this species Colonel G.F.L. Marshall remarks:--"I have taken eggs on the 20th June in Cawnpoor, the 31st July in Bolundshuhur, and the 25th August in Allyghur. The nest is almost always in a keekur tree in a fork about halfway up, and near the end of a branch. It is composed of keekur-twigs and lined with roots. It is thinner in structure than that of _M. terricolor_, but has an outer casing of thorns which the latter wants. They lay four blue eggs, larger and paler than those of _M. canorus_"

Lieut. H.E. Barnes writes that in Rajputana the Large Grey Babbler is "very common. I have found nests in each month from January to December. They have, I believe, several broods in the year; and even when nesting associate in small parties of seven or eight."

Messrs. Davidson and Wenden say:--"Common, and breeds in the Deccan."

Major C.T. Bingham says:--"Breeds both at Allahabad and at Delhi from March to quite the end of August, placing its loosely constructed (rarely firmly built) nest of twigs and fine grass-roots generally at no great height in babool-trees. Twice only I have found them in dense mango-trees at about thirty feet from the ground. The nests are not, I think, as a rule, so deep as those of _Crateropus terricolor_; once or twice I have found the soft down of the Madar (_Catatropes hamiltonii_) incorporated into the lining of grass-roots. The eggs are generally three or four in number."

Mr. Benjamin Aitken writes:--"All the nests which I have seen of the Large Grey Babbler have been on babool-trees. At Akola (Berar) in 1870, a great many had their nests during the month of July. I have recorded two instances of nests placed at a height above the ground of 15 feet and 20 feet. These were at Poona, one on the 21st April, and the other on the 10th May. I could not go up to the nests, but the birds in both cases were sitting closely. I have twice found nests with only three newly-hatched young ones."

Colonel Butler informs us that "the Large Grey Babbler breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa during the rains. Both the nest and eggs closely resemble those of _C. terricolor_, but the latter differ slightly in being less elongated, not so pointed at the small end, rounder at the large end, and somewhat paler in colour. I have taken nests on the following dates:--

"July 19, 1875. A nest containing 4 fresh eggs. "June 30, 1876. " " 4 fresh eggs. "July 15, 1876. " " 4 fresh eggs. "July 20, 1876. " " 3 fresh eggs.

"The nest in every instance was similar to that described by Jerdon, viz.:--a loose structure of dead roots, twigs, and grass, the interior being neatly lined with closely-woven roots of 'khus-khus.' The old birds generally select some thorny tree (_Mimosa_ &c.) to build on, and the nest is usually from 8 feet to 20 feet from the ground.

"Even in the nesting-season these birds are gregarious, joining a flock generally as soon as they leave the nest."

The eggs of this species do not appear to me to differ perceptibly from, those of _Crateropus canorus_. When one first takes a nest or two of each of them, one is apt to draw distinctions and fancy that the eggs of the two species can be discriminated; but after taking forty or fifty nests of each species, it becomes obvious that there is no variety of the one in either colour, shape, or size that cannot be paralleled in the other. All I have said of the eggs of _C. canorus_ is applicable to the eggs of this species, and the only difference that, with a huge series of each before me, I can discover is that, as a body, there is less variation in the colour of the eggs of _Argya malcolmi_ than in those of _C. canorus_.

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.)[A]. _The Large Rufous Babbler_.

[Footnote A: The accompanying incomplete account of the nidification of this bird is all I can find among Mr. Hume's notes. I cannot ascertain who was the discoverer of the nest and eggs described.--ED.]

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.)[A]. _The Jungle Babbler_.

[Footnote A: In the 'Birds of India,' I have united _C. malabaricus_ and _C. terricolor_. Mr. Hume probably still considers these two races distinct, and others may agree with him. To avoid confusion, therefore, I have kept the notes appertaining to these two races distinct from each other.--ED.]

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.