Part 27

One egg of this very beautiful species was sent me by Miss Cockburn. It is intermediate in size and colour between those of the European Creeper and Nuthatch, while at the same time it strongly recalls the eggs of _Parus atriceps_. In shape the egg is a broad oval (not quite so broad, however, as those of the European Nuthatch are), slightly compressed towards one end. The ground-colour is white, and the egg is blotched, speckled, and spotted, chiefly, however, in a sort of irregular zone round the large end, with brickdust-red and somewhat pale purple. The shell is fine and compact, but devoid of gloss. The egg measures 0·08 by 0·55 inch.

Three other eggs from the Sikhim Terai measure 0·68 by 0·51.

Family DICRURIDAE.

327. Dicrurus ater (Hermann). _The Black Drongo_.

Dicrurus macrocercus (_V._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 427. Buchanga albirictus, _Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 278.

The Black Drongo or Common King-Crow lays throughout India, at any rate in the plain country; it does not appear to breed either in the Himalayas or the Nilghiris at any height exceeding 5000 feet.

A few eggs may be found towards the close of April, and again during the first week of August, but May, June, and July are _the_ months.

It builds usually pretty high up in tall trees, in some fork not quite at the outside, constructing a broad shallow cup, and lays normally four eggs, although I _have_ found five. Elsewhere I have recorded the following in regard to its nidification:--

"Close at our own gate is a pretty neem tree, the '_Melia azadirachta_,' a species now naturalized in Provence and other parts of the south of France. High up in a fork a small nest was visible, and projecting over it on one side a black forked tail that could belong to nothing but the King-Crow. Of this bird we have already taken during the last six weeks at least fifty nests, and in many cases where we had left the empty nest in _statu quo_, we found it a week later with a fresh batch of eggs laid therein. Many birds will never return to a nest which has once been robbed, but others, like the King-Crow and the Little Shrike (_Lanius vittatus_) will continue laying even after the nest has been _twice_ robbed. The very day after the nest has been cleared of perhaps four slightly incubated eggs, a fresh one that otherwise would assuredly never have seen the light is laid, and that, too, a fertile egg, which, if not meddled with, will be hatched off in due course. It might be supposed that immediately on discovering their loss, nature urged the birds to new intercourse, the result of which was the fertile egg, and this, in some cases, is probably really the case; Martins and others of the Swallow kind being often to be seen busy with 'love's pleasing labour' before their eggs have been well stowed away by the collector. But this will not account for instances that I have observed of birds in confinement, who separated from the male before they had laid their full number, and then later, just when they began to sit deprived of their eggs, straightway laid a second set, neither so large nor so well coloured as the first, but still fertile eggs that were duly hatched. But for the removal of the first set, these subsequent eggs would never have been developed or laid. Now, the theory has always been that the contact of the sperm- and germ-cells causes the development and fertilization of the latter. In these cases no fresh accession of sperm-cells was possible, and hence it would seem as if in some birds the female organs were able to store up living sperm-cells, which only work to fertilize and develop ova in the event of some accident rendering it necessary, and which otherwise ultimately lose vitality and pass away without action.

"The nest of the King-Crow that we took was of the ordinary type; in fact I have noticed scarcely any difference in the shape or materials of all the numerous nests of this common bird that I have yet seen. They are all composed of tiny twigs and fine grass-stems, and the roots of the khus-khus grass, as a rule, neatly and tightly woven together, and exteriorly bound round with a good deal of cobweb, in which a few feathers are sometimes entangled. The cavity is broad and shallow, and at times lined with horsehair or fine grass, but most commonly only with khus. The bottom of the nest is very thin, but the sides or rim rather firm and thick; in this case the cavity was 4 inches in diameter, and about 1½ in depth, and contained three pure white glossless eggs. In the very next tree, however (a mango, and this is perhaps their favourite tree), was another similar nest, containing four eggs, slightly glossy, with a salmon-pink tinge throughout, and numerous well-marked brownish-red specks and spots, most numerous towards the large end, looking vastly like Brobdingnagian specimens of the Rocket-bird's eggs. The variation in this bird's eggs is remarkable; out of more than one hundred eggs nearly one third have been pure white, and between the dead glossless purely white egg and a somewhat glossy, warm pinky grounded one, with numerous well-marked spots and specks of maroon colour, dull-red, and red-brown or even dusky, every possible gradation is found. Each set of eggs, however, seems to be invariably of the same type, and we have never yet found a quite white and a well coloured and marked egg in the same nest.

"These birds are very jealous of the approach of other birds even of their own species to a nest in which they have eggs, and many a little family would this year have been safely reared, and their ovate cradles have escaped the plundering hands of my shikaries, had not attention been invariably called to the thereabouts of the nest by the pertinacious and vicious rushes of one or other of the parents from near their nest at every feathered thing that; passed them by."

Captain Hutton says:--"This species, which appears to be generally diffused throughout India, is not uncommon in the Dehra Doon, but does not ascend the hills; it breeds in June, laying four eggs of somewhat variable size. They are pure white, thus differing widely from those of the supposed _D. longcaudatus_ of Mussoorie.

"It is evident likewise that the eggs which Captain Tickell assigns to this species do not belong to it. (_Vide_ Journal As. Soc. vol. xvii. p. 304.)

"The nest differs from that of our hill species, being larger and far less neatly made; it is placed in the bifurcation of the smaller branches of a tall tree, and is composed exteriorly of two hard semi-woody stalks of various plants, plastered over with cobwebs. Another one was constructed entirely of fine roots, like the khus-khus used for tatties, and plastered over like the former with cobwebs. It is flattened or saucer-shaped, and about 3 inches in diameter."

Mr. F.R. Blewitt remarks:--"It breeds from the middle of May well into August. I do not think it has two broods in the year, at least close observation has not proved the fact. Trees of various sizes are chosen indiscriminately for the nest, from the lofty mango and tamarind to the low-growing roonji, &c.

"The nest is a peculiarly slight-formed structure (occasionally I have seen it otherwise, but this is the exception), always neatly made. The exterior of the nest is composed of small fine twigs, roots, and grass, with generally a good deal of spider's web round the outer surface. The average exterior diameter of the nest is about 5·5 inches. The cavity is frequently lined with horsehair. On three or four occasions I have seen very fine khus substituted for the hair. The average inner diameter of the nest is about 3·4 inches.

"The regular number of eggs is four; in colour they are a light reddish white, with a few spots or blotches, here and there of a purplish red or red-brown. The eggs often differ much in size.

"I happened to find in one nest two eggs, one of the usual size, the other only about one third of the size. What is more surprising, it was perfectly formed, as regards the white and yolk."

The instance of sagacity related by Mr. Phillips, and quoted by Jerdon, was related to him by the late Mr. Davis, my old Collector of Customs.

"I have on two or three occasions myself witnessed similar instances of sagacity. This bird, during the breeding-season, is pugnacious to a degree, fearlessly attacking every bird that approaches the tree on which the nest may be."

Writing from the Sambhur Lake, Mr. E.M. Adam says:--"Very common here. The King-Crow breeds here in June and July. The eggs vary much with regard to colouring; some are pure white without spots, some have dark brown spots on the white ground, whilst others have a pale rufous ground darker at the broader end, with spots of deep rust-colour and lilac."

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"At Bheera Tal, fully 4000 feet above the sea, I found two nests of this species on the 24th May, one contained four eggs, and the other three; the eggs varied much in size, and out of the seven, six were pure white, almost like Barbet's eggs, and the seventh had only a faint sprinkling of tiny dark spots at one end. The birds, all four of which I shot, were typical _D. ater_, with the white spot well developed. On the same day, and in the same place, I found eggs of _D. longicaudatus_. I record this, as it is not usual to find _D. ater_ breeding at this elevation. It may be noticed that the eggs of this species found by Hutton in the Doon were all pure white, while in the plains I think white is more exceptional."

Dr. Scully says:--"In Nepal it breeds freely at elevations of from 4000 to 5000 feet. Three nests were taken in the valley, in May and June; these contained each three or four pure white eggs."

Major C.T. Bingham remarks:--"I have found many nests of the King-Crow both at Allahabad and Delhi. In both places they begin laying towards the end of May, and I got fresh eggs at Allahabad as late as the 13th August. The nests and eggs have been nearly always of the same type. The former, a shallow, but well-made saucer, rather small sometimes for the size of the bird, of grass-roots and twigs, and absolutely without lining; the latter white, when fresh with a pink tinge, spotted, chiefly at the larger end, rather scantily with claret-colour and dark brown. I have never found a pure white egg."

Lieut. H.E. Barnes, writing of Rajputana in general, tells us:--"The King-Crow breeds during May and June. A few nests may be found in July, but by far the greater number are to be found during the latter part of May and the commencement of June."

Colonel Butler informs us that "The Common King-Crow breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa during the rains. I have taken nests on the following dates:--

"June 6, 1875. A nest containing 4 fresh eggs. June 7, 1875. " " 4 fresh eggs. June 9, 1875. " " 2 fresh eggs. " " " " 4 young birds. June 10, 1875 " " 4 fresh eggs. June 11, 1875. " " 4 fresh eggs. June 13, 1875. " " 3 fresh eggs. " " " " 4 fresh eggs. July 8, 1875. " " 4 fresh eggs. July 12, 1875. " " 4 fresh eggs.

"The nest consists of a broad shallow saucer about 3½ inches in diameter measured from the inside, composed of dry twigs and fine roots, and is invariably fixed in the fork of a tree. The bottom of the nest, though strongly woven, is often so thin that the eggs are visible from below. The eggs, usually four in number, are of the Oriole type, being white or creamy buff:, sparingly spotted and speckled with deep chocolate or rusty brown, with, occasionally, markings of inky purple. The markings of the eggs of this species, like those of the Oriole, are apt to run if washed."

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

Mr. Vidal remarks of this bird in the South Konkan:--"Abundant. Breeds in May."

Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says in 'The Ibis':--"Breeds from March to the end of May, constructing a slight cup-shaped nest in a tree. The nest is composed of fine twigs bound together with cobwebs, and is rather a flimsy concern, the eggs often being visible from below. It is generally placed in the fork of a branch, at from 10 to 30 feet from the ground. The eggs are three in number, occasionally only two, and vary very greatly in colour, some being almost of a pure white, whilst others again are spotted and blotched, especially at the larger end, with claret and light purple on a rich salmon-coloured ground. The birds are very noisy in the breeding-season, keeping all intruders off, not hesitating to attack Kites and Crows. They seem to have an especial antipathy to the latter."

Mr. Benjamin Aitken states that in Madras "the King-Crow, so conspicuous on the backs of cattle, telegraph-wires, &c., all through the cold and hot seasons, is conspicuous by its absence during the breeding-season. Many of them retire to woods and gardens to breed, but even when they do not, they keep very quiet while they have their nests. Last June there was a nest in a tree in the Thieves' bazaar at Madras, but the birds hardly ever showed themselves out of the tree."

Mr. J. Inglis informs us that in Cachar "this King-Crow is extremely common. It breeds all through the summer. It lays four or five pure white eggs on the top of a few grasses placed in the fork of a tree. It is very pugnacious, and attacks birds of all sizes if they approach it."

There are two very distinct types of this bird's eggs. The one pure white and spotless, the other a pale salmon-colour, spotted with a rich brownish red. These eggs unquestionably both belong to the same species, as I have taken them times without number myself and can positively certify to their parentage; moreover connecting links are not wanting in a large series. I have one egg perfectly white, with the exception of three or four blackish-brown spots, another with more of these spots, another with almost as many as the ordinary spotted eggs have, the ground-colour in all these being still pure white, and the spots being blackish or very deep reddish brown. Then I have others similar to those just described, but showing a faint salmon-coloured halo round one or two of the largest spots, others in which the halo is further developed, and others again with the entire ground-colour an excessively pale salmon throughout, and so on a complete series gradually increasing in intensity of colour till we get the pure rich salmon-buff which is at the other end of the scale. I am particular in this description, because the eggs of this bird have been a subject of almost as many contradictions between Indian naturalists as the chameleon of pious memory. In shape the eggs are typically a rather long oval, somewhat pointed towards one end. Very much elongated varieties are common, recalling in this respect the eggs of _Chibia hottentotta_. Spherical varieties, if they occur, must be very rare, the enormous series I possess containing no example. In the colour of the ground, as above remarked, there is every possible, variety of shade between pure white and a very rich salmon-colour. In the intensity and number of the markings there is an equally great variety. The markings, always spots and specks, the largest never exceeding 0·1 inch in diameter, are invariably most numerous towards the large end, where they are sometimes, though rarefy, slightly confluent. They vary from only two or three to a number too large to count, and in colour through many shades of reddish, blackish, and purplish brown, the latter being rare and abnormal.

The eggs are entirely devoid of gloss, as a rule, though here and there a slight trace of it is observable. It is this want of gloss alone that distinguishes some of the larger white, black-spotted varieties from the eggs of the common Oriole, which they occasionally exactly resemble not only in shape, colour, and character of marking, but even (though generally smaller) in size.

In length they vary From 0·87 to 1·15 inch, and in breadth from 0·7 to 0·85, but the average of 152 eggs measured is 1·01 by 0·75 inch. I have two dwarf eggs of this species not included in the above average which I myself obtained in different nests, measuring only 0·78 by 0·5 inch, and 0·87 by 0·62 inch.

328. Dicrurus longicaudatus. A. Hay. _The Indian Ashy Drongo_.

Dicrurus longicaudatus, _A. Hay, Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 430. Buchanga longicaudata (_A. Hay), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 280.

The Indian Ashy Drongo, a species that, with the really large series before me from all parts of India, I find it impossible to subdivide into two or more species, breeds alike in the plains, in well-watered and wooded districts, and in the Himalayas up to an elevation of 6000 to 7000 feet, and lays during the months of May and June.

They build generally in large trees, at a considerable height from the ground, placing their somewhat shallow cup-shaped nests in some slender fork towards the summit or exterior of the tree.

The nest is neatly and firmly built, of fine grass-stems, slender twigs, and grass-roots, closely interwoven, and externally bound together with cobwebs, in which, as in the body of the nest, lichens of several species are much intermingled. Exteriorly the nests are from 4 to 5 inches in diameter, and from 2 to 2½ in height. Interiorly they are lined with moss, roots, hairs, and fine grass; the cavity measuring from 3 to 3·5 inches in breadth, and from 1·1 to 1·4 inch in depth. The normal number of the eggs is four.

Mr. Brooks says:--"The nest is usually fixed on the upper surface of a thin branch about 15 to 20 feet from the ground, and at its junction with another branch, the nest being partly embedded in the fork of two _horizontal_ branches. It is composed of grass, fibres, and roots, and lined with finer grasses and a few hairs. The nest is broader and much shallower than that of _D. ater_; outside it is covered with spiders' webs and small bits of lichen.

"The eggs are four in number, sometimes only three, and vary much in size, shape, and colour; size 1·0 by 0·7 inch: some are buff, blotched with light reddish brown and pale purple-grey; others are lighter buff, almost white in fact, spotted and marked more sparingly than the first described with the same two colours, but each of a darker tint; others are white, marked sparingly with spots and blotches of dark purple-brown and reddish brown, and intermixed with larger blotches of deep purple-grey, the markings principally forming a zone at the larger end. Others, again, are pale purplish white, spotted with dark and light purple-brown, and intermixed with spots and blotches of purple-grey. The shape of the egg varies as much as the colouring, some being of a fine oval form, while others are quite pyriform. Laying in Kumaon from the middle to end of May."

As I shall notice further on, I think that Mr. Brooks is mistaken about some of his eggs.

Captain Hutton remarks:--"This species, the only one that visits Mussoorie, arrives from the Doon about the middle of March, and retires again about September. It is abundant during the summer months, and breeds from the latter end of April till the middle of June, making a very neat nest, which is placed in the bifurcation of a horizontal branch of some tall tree, usually an oak tree; it is constructed of grey lichens gathered from the trees, and fine seed-stalks of grasses, firmly and neatly interwoven; with the latter it is also usually lined, although sometimes a black fibrous lichen is used; externally the materials are kept compactly together by being plastered over with spiders' webs. It is altogether a light and elegant nest. The shape is circular, somewhat shallow; internal diameter 3 inches. The eggs are three or four, generally the latter number, and so variable in colour and distribution of spots that until I had got several specimens and compared them narrowly, I was inclined to think we had more than one species of _Dicrurus_ here. I am, however, now fully convinced that these variable eggs belong to the same species. Sometimes they are dull white with brick-red spots openly disposed in form of a rude ring at the larger end; at other times the spots are rufescent claret, with duller indistinct ones appearing through the shell; others are of a deep carneous hue, clouded and coarsely blotched with deep rufescent claret; while again some are faint carneous with large irregular blotches of rufous clay with duller ones beneath the shell."

Some of Captain Hutton's eggs which he sent me were clearly those of _Hypsipetes psaroides_ (of which also be sent me specimens), and the fact is that in thick foliage where the Red-bill is not seen nothing is easier than to mistake this bird for _D. longicaudatus_. I have taken a great many of these nests, and I never found eggs other than of the two types to be below described.

Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"In Kumaon this species breeds from 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea; the eggs are laid in the last week of May. I have never seen a nest at Naini Tal itself (6000 to 7000 feet), but at Bheem Tal (4000 feet) I found numerous nests within three days, in the first week of June; all without exception had young. The next season I visited the place in the last week of May, and found the eggs just laid.

"The nests were of the usual _Dicrurus_ type, wedged in a fork at heights varying from fifteen to fifty feet from the ground, but as far as my experience goes always in conspicuous places and generally on trees almost or quite bare of leaves. The nests are usually only to be obtained by sawing off the bough they are built on."

Long ago Captain Cock, writing from Dhurmsala, said:--"I took a nest on the 8th of May, containing four eggs. The eggs are regular, roundish ovals, somewhat pointed towards one end. The ground-colour is white, here and there suffused with a faint pinkish tinge, and it is spotted and blotched with purplish red and pale lilac, most of the spots being gathered into an irregular zone about the large end."