Chapter XV: Part 15

Mr. Mandelli sends me a regular Tailor-bird's nest as that of this species. It was found below Yendong in Native Sikhim on the 1st May, and contained three fresh eggs. The nest itself is a beautiful little cup, composed of silky vegetable down and excessively fine grass-stems, and a very little black hair firmly felted together, and is placed between two living leaves of a sapling neatly sewn together at the margins with bright yellow silk.

The eggs are rather elongated, very regular ovals. The shell stout for the size of the egg, but very fine and compact, and with a moderate gloss. The ground-colour is a very delicate pale greenish blue. At or round the larger end there is very generally a mottled cap or zone (more commonly the latter) of duller or brighter brownish red, while irregular blotches, streaks, spots, and specks of the same colour, but usually a slightly paler shade, are more or less sparsely scattered over the rest of the surface of the egg, sometimes they are almost wholly wanting. Occasionally the zone is at the small end.

The eggs measure from 0·60 to 0·62 in length, by 0·43 to 0·48 in breadth; but the average of six eggs is 0·61 by 0·45.

384. Franklinia buchanani (Blyth). _The Rufous-fronted Wren-Warbler_.

Franklinia buchanani (_Blyth), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 186; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 551.

The Rufous-fronted Wren-Warbler breeds throughout Central India, the Central Provinces, the North-western Provinces, the Punjab, and Rajpootana. It affects chiefly the drier and warmer tracts, and, though said to have been obtained in the Nepal Terai, has never been met with by _me_ either there or in any very moist, swampy locality. The breeding-season extends from the end of May until the beginning of September.

The nests, according to my experience, are always placed at heights of from a foot to 4 feet from the ground, in low scrub-jungle or bushes. They vary greatly in size and shape, according to position. Some are oblate spheroids with the aperture near the top, some are purse-like and suspended, and some are regular cups. One of the former description measured externally 5 inches in diameter one way by 3¼ inches the other. One of the suspended nests was 7 inches long by 3 wide, and one of the cup-shaped nests was nearly 4 inches in diameter and stood, perhaps, at most 2½ inches high. The egg-cavity in the different nests varies from 1¾ to 2¼ inches in diameter, and from less than 2 to fully 3 inches in depth. Externally the nest is very loosely and, generally, raggedly constructed of very fine grass-stems and tow-like vegetable fibre used in different proportions in different nests; those in which grass is chiefly used being most ragged and straggling, and those in which most vegetable fibre has been made use of being neatest and most compact. In all the nests that I have seen the egg-cavity has been lined with something very soft. In many of the nests the lining is composed of small felt-like pieces of some dull salmon-coloured fungus, with which the whole interior is closely plastered; in others there is a dense lining of soft silky vegetable down; and in others the down and fungus are mingled. They lay from four to five eggs, never more than this latter number according to my experience.

"At the end of June 1867," writes Mr. Brooks, "I took two nests of this bird at Chunar in low ber bushes about 2 feet from the ground. They were little spheres of fine grass with a hole at the side. One contained four eggs; these were of a greyish-white ground or nearly pure white, finely speckled over with reddish brown, some of the eggs exhibiting a tendency to form a zone round the large end, and others with a complete zone."

"At Sambhur," Mr. Adam says, "this Wren-Warbler is always found wherever there are low bushes. It breeds just before the rains, but I have not recorded the date. I had a nest with the bird and five eggs sent to me. The eggs are pale bluish white, with reddish-brown spots and freckles all over them."

"During July, August, and the early part of September," remarks Mr. W. Blewitt, "I found a great number of the nests and eggs of this bird in the jungle-preserves of Hansie and its neighbourhood. The nests, of which I have already sent you several, were mostly in ber (_Zizyphus jujuba_) and hinse (_Capparis aphylla_) bushes, at heights of from 3 to 4 feet from the ground. Five was the largest number of eggs that I found in any one nest."

Major C.T. Bingham remarks:--"I found several nests of this bird in the beginning of October at Delhi in the jherberry bushes so plentiful on the Ridge. Both nests and eggs are very like those of _Cisticola cursitans_ before described; the only difference I could find was that the entrance in the nest of _C. cursitans_ that I found was at the top, and in all the nests of _F. buchanani_ at the side rather low down; the nests of the latter are also firmer and more globular in shape. The eggs are, to my eye, identical in colour and form."

Mr. G. Reid informs us that at Lucknow it is fairly common and a permanent resident. It makes an oblong, loosely constructed nest with the aperture near the top, and lays three or four white eggs minutely spotted with dingy red.

Mr. J. Davidson writes that in Western Khandeish this Warbler is the commonest bird, breeding about Dhulia in July, August, and September.

Colonel E.A. Butler writes:--"I found a nest of the Rufous-fronted Wren-Warbler at Deesa on the 27th July, 1875. It was in a grass beerh, and placed in a heap of dead thorns overgrown with grass and about a foot from the ground. It was composed externally of dry grass-stems, with lumps of silky white vegetable down (_Calotropis_) scattered sparingly over the whole nest. The lining consisted of very fine dry grass neatly put together and felted with silky down, and a considerable amount of the dull salmon-coloured fungus or lichen referred to in the 'Rough Draft of Nests and Eggs,' p. 359. In shape the nest is nearly spherical, being slightly oval however, with a small aperture near the top. The entrance was 1½ inches in diameter, and the nest itself roughly measured from the outside 4½ inches in length and 4 in width. The eggs, usually four in number, are white, closely speckled over with pale rusty red, intermingled with a few pale washed-out inky markings, in some cases at the large end, which is surrounded by a zone clear and well-marked in some instances, less distinct in others. I found other nests in the same neighbourhood as below:--

"Aug. 24, 1875. A nest containing 4 fresh eggs.
July 20, 1876. " " 4 " "
July 28, " " " 4 young birds.
Aug. 4, " " " 4 fresh eggs.
Aug. 5, " " " 4 " "
Aug. 5, " " " 4 " "
Aug. 5, " " " 5 " "
Aug. 8, " " " 5 " "
Aug. 14, " " " 5 " "

"In every one of the above instances the nest was exactly similar to the one I have described, and built in the same kind of situation, i.e. in heaps of dead thorns overgrown with long grass. The eggs are all much the same, the spots being larger in some than in others and more numerous in some cases than in others. In one set I have the ground is very pale bluish white (skimmed milk) instead of being pure white. As a rule the eggs are almost exactly like the eggs of _C. cursitans_, and if mixed I doubt very much if any person could separate them. On examining the salmon-coloured fungus-lining it appears to me to be nothing more nor less than small pieces of dried ber leaves, and I have never examined a nest without finding some of this material at the bottom of it."

"The Rufous-fronted Wren-Warbler," writes Lieut. Barnes, "breeds in Rajpootana during July, August, and the early part of September. The nest, composed of grass, is loosely constructed, and placed in low bushes or scrub."

The eggs vary somewhat in size and shape; a moderately broad oval, slightly compressed towards the larger end, being, however, the commonest type. Examining a large series, it appears that variations from this type are more commonly of an elongated than a spherical form. The eggs are of the same character as those of _Cisticola cursitans_ (p. 236), but yet differ somewhat. The eggs are many of them fairly glossy, the shells very delicate and fragile; the ground-colour white, usually slightly greyish, but in some specimens faintly tinged with very pale green or pink. Typically they are very thickly and very finely speckled all over with somewhat dingy red or purplish red. In three out of four eggs the markings are densest and largest towards the large end; and, to judge from the large series before me, at least one in four exhibits a more or less well-defined mottled zone or cap at this end, formed by the partial confluence of multitudinous specks.

In some specimens the markings are pale inky purple, and in some slightly purplish brown, but these are abnormal varieties. In one or two eggs fairly-sized spots and blotches are intermingled with the minute specklings, but this also is rare. Of course in different specimens the density of the speckling varies greatly: in some eggs not a fifth of the surface is covered with the markings, while in some it appears as if there were more of these than of the ground-colour.

In length the eggs vary from 0·55 to 0·66, and in breadth from 0·43 to 0·52; but the average of eighty-seven eggs is 0·62 by 0·48.

385. Franklinia cinereicapilla (Hodgs.). _Hodgson's Wren-Warbler_.

Prinia cinereocapilla, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 172; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 537.

Captain Hutton says[A]:--"In this species the structure of the nest is somewhat coarser than in _P. stewarti_, and it is more loosely put together, but like that species it is also a true Tailor-bird.

[Footnote A: I reproduce this note as it appeared in the 'Rough Draft,' but I have no faith in the identification of this rare bird by Capt Hutton. Mr. Hume is apparently of the same opinion, as he does not quote the Dhoon as one of the localities in which, this species occurs (S.F. ix, p. 286). It may be well, however, to point out that Mr. Brooks procured this species at Dhunda, in the Bhagirati valley, so that it is not unlikely to occur in the Dhoon.--ED.]

"In the specimen before me two large leaves are stitched together at the edges, and between these rests the cup-shaped nest composed of grass-stalks and fine roots, as in _P. stewarti_, and without any lining, while, being more completely surrounded by or enfolded in the leaves, the cottony seed-down which binds together the fibres in the others is here dispensed with.

"The eggs were three in number, of a pale bluish hue, irrorated with specks of rufous-brown, and chiefly so at the larger end, where they form an ill-defined ring.

"The eggs measured 0·62 by 0·44.

"The nest was found hanging on a large-leafed annual shrub growing in the Dhoon, and was placed about 2 feet from the ground. It was taken on 22nd July."

386. Laticilla burnesi (Bl.). _The Long-tailed Grass-Warbler_. Eurycercus burnesii, _Bl., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 74.

Mr. S.B. Doig appears to be the only ornithologist who has found the nest of the Long-tailed Grass-Warbler. Writing of the Eastern Narra District, in Sind, he says:--

"This bird is in certain localities very numerous, but invariably confines itself to dense thickets of revel and tamarisk jungle. The discovery of my first nest was as follows:

"On the 13th March, while closely searching some thick grass along the banks of a small canal, I heard a peculiar twittering which I did not recognize. After standing perfectly still for a short while, I at length caught sight of the bird, which I at once identified as _L. burnesi_. Leaving the bed of the canal in which I was walking and making a slight detour, I came suddenly over the spoil-bank of the canal on to the place where the bird had been calling. My sudden appearance caused the bird to get very excited, and it kept on twittering, approaching me at one time until quite close and then going away again a short distance; I at once began searching for its nest, and out of the first tussock of grass I touched, close to where I was standing, flew the female, who joined her mate, after which both birds kept up a continuous and angry twittering. On opening out the grass, I found the nest with three fresh eggs in it, placed right in the centre of the tuft and close to the ground. The eggs were of a pale green ground-colour, covered with large irregular blotches of purplish brown, and not very unlike some of the eggs of _Passer flavicollis_. After this I found several nests, but they were all building, and were one and all deserted, though in many instances I never touched the nest, often never saw it, as on seeing the birds flying in and out of the grass with building material in their bills I left the place and returned in ten days' time, but only to find the nest deserted. In one case where a single egg had been laid, I found that the bird before deserting the nest had broken the egg. In July I again got a nest and shot the parent birds; the eggs in this nest were quite of a different type, being of a very pale cream ground-colour, with large rusty blotches, principally confined to the larger end. The nests of this bird are composed of coarse grass, the inside being composed of the finer parts; they are 4 to 5 inches external diameter and 2½ inches internal diameter, the cavity being about 1½ inches deep. The months in which they breed are, as far as I at present know, March, June, and September. The eggs vary in size from ·65 to ·80 in length and from ·50 to ·55 in breadth. The average of seven eggs is ·72 in length and ·54 in breadth."

The eggs of this species vary somewhat in size and shape, but they are typically regular rather elongated ovals, rather obtuse at both ends, and often slightly compressed towards the small end. The shell is fine and compact and has a slight gloss; the ground-colour is sometimes greenish white, sometimes faintly creamy. The eggs are generally pretty thickly and finely speckled and scratched all over, and besides the fine markings there are a greater or smaller number of more or less large irregular blotches and splashes, chiefly confined to the large end. These markings, large and small, are brown, very variable in shade, in some eggs reddish, in some chocolate, in some raw sienna, &c. Besides these primary markings most eggs exhibit a number of paler subsurface secondary markings, varying in colour from sepia to lavender or pale purple; these are mostly confined to the large end (though tiny spots of the same tint occur occasionally on all parts of the egg), where with the large blotches they often form a more or less conspicuous and more or less confluent but always ill-defined zone or even cap. Here and there an egg absolutely wants the larger blotches, but even in such cases the specklings are more crowded about the large end, and these with the lilac clouds still combine to indicate a sort of zone.

The eggs I possess of this species, sent me by Mr. Doig, vary from 0·71 to 0·81 in length by 0·52 to 0·59 in breadth; but the average of seven eggs is 0·72 by 0·55.

388. Graminicola bengalensis, Jerd. _The Large Grass-Warbler_.

Graminicola bengalensis, _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 177. Drymoica bengalensis (_Jerd.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 542.

Long ago the late Colonel Tytler gave me the following note on this species:--"I shot these birds at Dacca in 1852, and sent a description and a drawing of them to Mr. Blyth. They were named after my esteemed friend Jules Verreaux, of Paris. They are not uncommon at Dacca in grass-jungle. I think the bird Dr. Jerdon gives in his 'Birds of India' as _Graminicola bengalensis_, Jerdon, No. 542, p. 177, vol. ii., is meant for this species. The genus _Graminicola_, under which he places this bird, appears to be a genus of Dr. Jerdon's own, for it is not in Gray's 'Genera and Subgenera of Birds in the British Museum,' printed in 1855. If it is the same bird as Dr. Jerdon's, then my name, which I communicated in 1851-52 not only to Mr. Blyth but also to Prince Bonaparte and M. Jules Verreaux, and which was published in my Fauna of Dacca, has, it seems to me, the priority."

The birds _are_ identical. Jerdon gave me one of his Cachar specimens, and I compared it with Tytler's types, and certainly Tytler's name was published ten years before Jerdon's (_vide_ Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Sept. 1854, p. 176); but no description was published, and I fear therefore that the name given by Colonel Tytler cannot be maintained, unless indeed, which I have been unable to ascertain, either Bonaparte or Verreaux figured or described the specimens Tytler sent them in some French work.

I have only one supposed nest of this species, brought me from Dacca by a native collector who worked there for me under Mr. F.B. Simson. He did not take it himself; it was brought to him with one of the parent birds by a shikaree. The evidence is, therefore, very bad, but I give the facts for what they are worth.

The nest is a rather massive and deep cup, the lower portion prolonged downwards so as to form a short truncated cone. It is fixed between three reeds, is constructed of sedge and vegetable fibre firmly wound together and round the reeds, and is lined with fine grass-roots. It measures externally 5 inches in height and nearly 4 inches in diameter, measuring outside the reeds which are incorporated in the outer surface of the nest. The cavity is about 2½ inches in diameter and nearly 2 inches deep. It contained four eggs, hard-set; only one could be preserved, and that was broken in bringing up-country; so I could not measure it, but the shell was a sort of pale greenish grey or dull greenish white, rather thickly but very faintly speckled and spotted with very dull purplish and reddish brown, with some grey spots intermingled. The nest was obtained (no date noted) between the middle of July and the middle of August. I note that the eggs were on the point of hatching, so that the fresh egg would probably be somewhat brighter coloured.

389. Megalurus palustris, Horsf. _The Striated Marsh-Warbler_.

Megalurus palustris, _Horsf., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 70; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 440.

Nothing has hitherto been recorded of the nidification of the Striated Marsh-Warbler, although it has a very wide distribution and is very common in suitable localities.

The Striated Marsh-Babbler, as Jerdon calls it, has nothing of the Babbler in it. It rises perpendicularly out of the reeds, sings rather screechingly while in the air, and descends suddenly. It has much more of a song than any of the Babblers, a much stronger flight, and its sudden, upward, towering flight and equally sudden descent are unlike anything seen amongst the Babblers.

Mr. E.C. Nunn procured the nest and an egg of this species (which along with the parent birds he kindly forwarded to me) at Hoshungabad on the 4th May, 1868. The nest was round, composed of dry grass, and situated in a cluster of reeds between two rocks in the bed of the Nerbudda. It contained a single fresh egg.

Writing from Wau, in the Pegu District, Mr. Oates remarks:--"I found a nest on the 19th May containing four eggs recently laid. The female flew off only at the last moment, when my pony was about to tread on the tuft of grass she had selected for her home.

"The nest was placed in a small but very dense grass-tuft about a foot above the ground. It was made entirely of coarse grasses, and assimilated well with the dry and entangled stems among which it lay. The nest was very deep and purse-shaped. It was about 8 inches in total height at the back, and some 2 inches lower in front, the upper part of the purse being as it were cut off slantingly, and thus leaving an entrance which was more or less circular. The width is 6½ inches, and the breadth from front to back 4 inches. The interior is smooth, lined with somewhat finer grass, and measures 4 inches in depth by 3 inches from side to side, and by 2 inches from front to back.

"_Megalurus palustris_ is very common throughout the large plains lying between the Pegu and Sittang Rivers. At the end of May they were all breeding. The nest is, however, difficult to find, owing to the vast extent of favourable ground suited to its habits. Every yard of the land produces a clump of grass likely enough to hold a nest, and as the female sits still till the nest is actually touched, it becomes a difficult and laborious task to find the nest."

He subsequently remarks:--"May seems to be the month in which these birds lay here. The nest is very often placed on the ground under the shelter of some grass-tuft."

Mr. Cockburn writes to me:--"I found a nest of this bird on the north bank of the Bramaputra, near Sadija. One of the birds darted off the nest a foot or two from me in an excited way, which led me to search. The nest was almost a perfect oval, with a slice taken off at the top on one side, built in a clump of grass, and only 9 or 10 inches from the ground. It was made of sarpat-grass, and lined internally with finer grasses. The grass had a bleached and washed-out appearance, while the clump was quite green. This was on the 29th May. I noticed at the same time that the nest was not interwoven with the living grass. I removed it easily with the hand."

Mr. Cripps says:--"They breed in April and May in the Dibrugarh district, placing their deep cup-shaped nests in tussocks of grass wherever it is swampy, in some instances the bottoms of the nests being wet. Four seems to be the greatest number of eggs in a nest."

The eggs are much the same shape and size as those of _Acrocephalus stentoreus_. They have a dead-white ground, thickly speckled and spotted with blackish and purplish brown, and have but a slight gloss; the speckling, everywhere thick, is generally densest at the large end, and there chiefly do spots, as big as an ordinary pin's head, occur. At the large end, besides these specklings, there is a cloudy, dull, irregular cap, or else isolated patches, of very pale inky purple, which more or less obscure the ground-colour. In the peculiar speckly character of the markings these eggs recall doubtless some specimens of the eggs of the different Bulbuls, but their natural affinities seem to be with those of the _Acrocephalinae_.

The eggs vary from 0·8 to 0·97 in length, and from 0·61 to 0·69 in breadth; but the average of twelve eggs is 0·85 by 0·64.

390. Schoenicola platyura (Jerd.). _The Broad-tailed Grass-Warbler_.

Schoenicola platyura (_Jerd.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 73.

Colonel E.A. Butler discovered the nest of the Broad-tailed Grass-Warbler at Belgaum. He writes:--

"On the 1st September, 1880, I shot a pair of these birds as they rose out of some long grass by the side of a rice-field; and, thinking there might be a nest, I commenced a diligent search, which resulted in my finding one. It consisted of a good-sized ball of coarse blades of dry grass, with an entrance on one side, and was built in long grass about a foot from the ground. Though it was apparently finished, there were unfortunately no eggs, but dissection of the hen proved that she would have laid in a day or two. On the 10th instant I found another nest exactly similar, built in a tussock of coarse grass, near the same place; but this was subsequently deserted without the bird laying. On the 19th September I went in the early morning to the same patch of grass and watched another pair, soon seeing the hen disappear amongst some thick tussocks. On my approaching the spot she flew off the nest, which contained four eggs much incubated. The nest was precisely similar to the others, but with the entrance-hole perhaps rather nearer the top, though still on one side. The situation in the grass was the same--in fact it was very similar in every respect to the nest of _Drymoeca insignis_. The eggs are very like those of _Molpastes haemorrhous_, but smaller, having a purplish-white ground, sprinkled all over with numerous small specks and spots of purple and purplish brown, with a cap of the same at the large end, underlaid with inky lilac.

"These birds closely resemble _Chaetornis striatus_ in their actions and habits, and in the breeding-season rise constantly into the air, chirruping like that species, and descending afterwards in the same way on to some low bush or tussock of grass, sometimes even on to the telegraph-wires. They are fearful little skulks, however, if you attempt to pursue them, and the moment you approach disappear into the grass like a shot, from whence it is almost impossible to flush them again unless you all but tread on them. It is perfectly marvellous the way they will hide themselves in a patch of grass when they have once taken refuge in it; and although you may know within a yard or two of where the bird is, you may search for half an hour without finding it. If you shoot at them and miss, they drop to the shot into the grass as if killed, and nothing will dissuade you from the belief that they are so until, after a long search, the little beast gets up exactly where you have been hunting all along, from almost under your feet, and darts off to disappear, after another short flight of fifteen or twenty yards, in another patch of grass, from whence you may again try in vain to dislodge it."

The eggs of this species, though much smaller, are precisely of the same type as those of _Megalurus palustris_ and _Chaetornis striatus_; moderately broad ovals with a very fine compact shell, with but little gloss, though perhaps rather more of this than in either of the species above referred to. The ground-colour is white, with perhaps a faint pinkish shade, and it is profusely speckled and spotted with brownish red, almost black in some spots, more chestnut in others. Here and there a few larger spots or small irregular blotches occur. Besides these markings, clouds, streaks, and tiny spots of grey or lavender-grey occur, chiefly about the large end, where, with the markings (often more numerous there than elsewhere), they form at times a more or less confluent but irregular and ill-defined cap.

One egg measured 0·73 by 0·6.

391. Acanthoptila nepalensis (Hodgs.). _The Spiny Warbler_.

Acanthoptila nipalensis (_Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p 57. Acanthoptila pellotis, _Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 431 bis.

According to Mr. Hodgson's notes and figures, this species builds, in a fork of a tree, a very loose, shallow grass nest. One is recorded to have measured 4·87 in diameter and 1·75 in height externally, and internally 3·37 in diameter and an inch in depth. The eggs are verditer-blue, and are figured as 1·1 by 0·65.

I may here note that _Acanthoptila pellotis_ and _A. leucotis_ are totally distinct, as Mr. Hodgson's figures clearly show. Hodgson published _A. leucotis_ apparently under the name of _A. nipalensis_, so that the two will stand as _A. pellotis_ and _A. nipalensis_.[A]

[Footnote A: I do not agree with. Mr. Hume on this point. It seems to me that this bird has both a summer and a winter plumage, and Hodgson's two names refer to one and the same bird.--ED.]

392. Chaetornis locustelloides (Bl.). _The Bristled Grass-Warbler_.

Chaetornis striatus (_Jerd.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p. 72; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 441.

Dr. Jerdon remarks that Mr. Blyth mentions that the nest of the Grass-Babbler, as he calls it, nearly accords with that of _Malacocercus_, and that the eggs are blue.

I cannot find the passage in which Blyth states this, and I cannot help doubting its correctness. This bird, like the preceding, is not a bit of a Babbler. I have often watched them in Lower Bengal amongst comparatively low grass and rush along the margins of ponds and jheels, not, as a rule, affecting high reed or seeking to conceal themselves, but showing themselves freely enough, and with a song and flight wholly unlike that of any Babbler.

They are very restless, soaring about and singing a monotonous song of two notes, somewhat resembling that of a Pipit, but clear and loud. They do not soar in one spot like a Sky-Lark, as Jerdon says, but rise to the height of from 30 to 50 yards, fly rapidly right and left, over perhaps one fourth of a mile, and then suddenly drop on to the top of some little bush or other convenient post, and there continue their song.

Mr. Brooks remarks:--"On the 28th August, 1869, I observed at the side of the railway, at Jheenjuck Jheel, on the borders of the Etawah and Cawnpoor Districts, several pairs of _Chaetornis_. A good part of the jheel was covered with grass about 18 inches high, and to this they appeared partial, though occasionally I found them among the long reeds. The part of the jheel where they were found was drier than the rest, there being only about an inch of water in places, while other portions were quite dry.

"I noticed the bird singing while seated on a bush or large clump of grass, and sometimes it perched on the telegraph-wires alongside of the line of railway, continuing its song while perched.

"By habits and song it seems more nearly allied to the Pipits than the Babblers. Males shot early in September were obviously breeding, and a female shot on the 13th of that month contained a nearly full-sized egg."

It does not do to be too positive, but I should be inclined to believe that the eggs are not uniform coloured, blue and glossy like a Babbler's, but dull, dead, or greenish white, with numerous small specks and spots[A].

[Footnote A: The discovery of this bird's eggs has proved Mr. Hume to be right in his conjecture.--ED.]

Colonel E.A. Butler, who was the first to discover the eggs of the Bristled Grass-Warbler, writes:--

"The Grass-Babbler is not uncommon about Deesa in the rains, at which season it breeds. I found a nest containing four eggs on the 18th August, 1876. It consisted of a round ball of dry grass with a circular entrance on one side, near the top, was placed on the ground in the centre of a low scrubby bush in a grass Bheerh, and when the hen-bird flew off, which was not until I almost put my foot on the nest, I mistook her for _Argya caudata_. On looking, however, into the bush, I saw at once by the eggs that it was a species new to me. I left the spot and returned again in about an hour's time, when, to my disappointment, I found that three of the eggs had hatched. The fourth egg being stale, I took it and added it to my collection. The eggs are about the size of the eggs of _A. caudata_, but in colour very like those of _Franklinia buchanani_, namely, white, speckled all over with reddish brown and pale lavender, most densely at the large end. This bird has a peculiar habit in the breeding-season of rising suddenly into the air and soaring about, often for a considerable distance, uttering a loud note resembling the words 'chirrup, chirrup-chirrup,' repeated all the time the bird is in the air, and then suddenly descending slowly into the grass with outspread wings, much in the style of _Mirafra erythroptera_. This bird is so similar in appearance, when flying and hopping about in the long grass, to _A. caudata_, that I have no doubt it is often mistaken for that species. I have invariably found it during the rains in grass Bheerhs overgrown with low thorny bushes (_Zizyphus jujuba_, &c.). Whether it remains the whole year round I cannot say; at all events, if it does, its close resemblance to _A. caudata_ enables it to escape notice at other seasons."

Mr. Cripps, writing from Fureedpore, says:--"Very common in long grass fields. Permanent resident. It utters its soft notes while on the wing, not only in the cold season but the year through; it is very noisy during the breeding-time. Breeds in clumps of grass a few inches above as well as on the ground. I found five nests in the month of May from 23rd to 28th: one was on the ground in a field of indigo; the rest were in clumps of 'sone' grass and from the same field composed of this grass. One nest contained three half-fledged young, and the rest had four eggs slightly incubated in each. Although they nest in 'sone' grass which is rarely over three feet in height, it is very difficult to find the nest, as the grass generally overhangs and hides it. Only when the bird rises almost from your feet are you able to discover the whereabouts. On several occasions I have noticed this species perching on bushes."

The eggs, which, to judge from a large series sent me by Mr. Cripps, do not appear to vary much in shape, are moderately broad ovals, more or less pointed towards one end. The shell is fine and fragile but entirely devoid of gloss; the ground-colour is white with a very faint pinky or lilac tinge, and they are thickly speckled all over with minute markings of two different shades--the one a sort of purplish brown (they are so small that it is difficult to make certain of the exact colour), and the other inky purple or grey. In most eggs the markings are most dense at or about the large end, and occasionally a spot may be met with larger than the rest, as big as a pin's head say, and some of these seem to have a reddish tinge, while some are more of a sepia.

The eggs vary from 0·75 to 0·86 in length and from 0·59 to 0·62 in breadth, but the average of twelve eggs is almost exactly 0·8 by 0·6.

394. Hypolais rama (Sykes). _Sykes's Tree-Warbler_.

Phyllopneuste rama (_Sykes), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 189. Iduna caligata, _Licht., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 553.

I have never myself obtained the nest and eggs of Sykes's Tree-Warbler, _P. rama, apud Jerd._[A] On the 1st April, at Etawah, my friend Mr. Brooks shot a male of this species off a nest; and I saw the bird, nest, and eggs within an hour, and visited the spot later. The nest was placed in a low thorny bush, about a foot from the ground, on the side of a sloping bank in one of the large dry ravines that in the Etawah District fringe the River Junina for a breadth of from a mile to four miles. The nest was nearly egg-shaped, with a circular entrance near the top. It was loosely woven with coarse and fine grass, and a little of the fibre of the "sun" (_Crotalaria juncea_), and very neatly felted on the whole interior surface of the lower two thirds with a compact coating of the down of flowering-grasses and little bits of spider's web. It was about 5 inches in its longest and 3½ inches in its shortest diameter. It contained three fresh eggs, which were white, very thickly speckled with brownish pink, in places confluent and having a decided tendency to form a zone near the large end. Three or four days later we shot the female at the same spot.

[Footnote A: I reproduce the note on this bird as it appeared in the 'Rough Draft,' but I think some mistake has been made, as Mr. Hume himself suggests. Full reliance, however, may be placed on Mr. Doig's note, which is a most interesting contribution.--ED]

A similar nest and two eggs, taken in Jhansi on the 12th August, were sent me with one of the parent birds by Mr. F.R. Blewitt, and, again, another nest with four eggs was sent me from Hoshungabad.

There ought to be no doubt about these nests and eggs, the more so that I have several specimens of the bird from various parts of the North-Western Provinces and Central Provinces killed in August and September, but somehow I do not feel quite certain that we have not made some mistake. Beyond doubt the great mass of this species migrate and breed further north. I have never obtained specimens in June or July; and if these nests really, as the evidence seems to show, belonged to the birds that were shot on or near them, these latter must have bred in India before or after their migration, as well as in Northern Asia.

Though one may make minute differences, I do not think either of the three nests or sets of eggs could be certainly separated from those of _Franklinia buchanani_, which might well have eggs about both in April and August; and I am not prepared to say that in each of these three cases _Hypolais rama_, which frequents precisely the same kind of bushes that _F. buchanani_ breeds in, may not accidentally have been shot in the immediate proximity to a nest of the latter, the owner of which had crept noiselessly away, as these birds so often do.

Dr. Jerdon says:--"I have obtained the nest and eggs of this species on one occasion only at Jaulnah in the Dekhan; the nest was cup-shaped, made of roots and grass, and contained four pure white eggs."

I do not attach undue weight to this, for Dr. Jerdon did not care about eggs, and was rather careless about them; but still his statement has to be noted, and the whole matter requires careful investigation.

Mr. Doig found this species breeding on the Eastern Narra in Sind. He writes:--"I first obtained eggs of this bird in March 1879. The first nest was found by one of my men, who afterwards showed me a bird close to the place he got the eggs, which he said was either the bird to which the nest and eggs belonged or one of the same kind. This I shot and sent to Mr. Hume with one of the eggs to identify. Some time after I again came across a lot of these birds breeding, and this time lay in wait myself for the bird to come to the nest and eggs, and when it did I shot it. This I also sent to Mr. Hume to identify. Some time after I beard from Mr. Hume, who said that there must be some mistake, as the birds sent belonged to two different species, viz. _Sylvia affinis_ and _Hypolais rama_, and were both, he believed, only cold-weather visitants. This year I again 'went for' these birds and again sent specimens of birds and eggs to Mr. Hume, who informed me that the birds now sent were _H. rama_, and that the eggs must belong to this species soon after this Mr. Brooks saw the eggs with Mr. Hume and identified them as being those _H. rama_ and identical with eggs he saw at home collected by, I think, Mr. Seebohm of this species in Siberia. Only fancy a bird breeding on the Narra of all places, especially in May, June, and July, in preference to Siberia! Locally they are very numerous, as I collected upwards of 90 to 100 eggs in one field about eight acres in size. They build in stunted tamarisk bushes, or rather in bushes of this kind which originally were cut down to admit of cultivation being carried on, and which afterwards had again sprouted. These bushes are very dense, and in their centre is situated the nest, composed of sedge, with a lining of fine grass, mixed sometimes with a little soft grass-reed. The eggs are, as a rule, four in number, of a dull white ground-colour with brown spots, the large end having as a rule a ring round it of most delicate, fine, hair-like brown lines, something similar to the tracing to be seen on the eggs of _Drymoeca inornata_. The egg in size is also similar to those of that species."

The eggs of this species vary from broad to moderately elongated ovals, but they are almost always somewhat pointed towards the small end; the shell is fine but as a rule glossless; here and there, however, an egg exhibits a faint gloss. The ground-colour is whitish, never pure white, with an excessively faint greenish, greyish, creamy, or pinky tinge. The markings are very variable in amount and extent, but they are always black or nearly so and pale inky grey; perhaps typically the markings consist of a zone of black hair-lines twisted and entangled together, in which irregular shaped spots and small blotches of the same colour appear to have been caught, which zone is underlaid and more or less surrounded by clouds, streaks, and spots of pale inky grey. This zone is typically about the large end, but in one or two eggs is near the middle of the egg and in one or two is about the small end. Outside this zone a few small specks and spots, and rarely one or two tiny blotches, of both black and grey are thinly scattered; occasionally, however, the hair-lines so characteristic of this egg are almost entirely wanting, there is no apparent zone, and the markings, spots, and specks are thinly and irregularly distributed about the entire surface; here and there the whole of the dark markings on the egg are entirely confined to the zone, elsewhere only pale lilac specks are visible. Occasionally together with a well-defined zone numerous specks, spots, and a few hair-line scratches of black are intermingled with faint purplish-grey spots, and pretty thinly scattered everywhere.

The eggs vary from 0·53 to 0·68 in length and from 0·46 to 0·51 in breadth; but the average of a very large number is 0·61 by 0·49.

402. Sylvia affinis (Blyth). _The Indian Lesser White-throated Warbler_.

Sylvia curruca (_Gm.), apud Jerd. B.I._ ii, p. 209. Sterparola curruca (_Lath.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 583.

Of the nidification of the Lesser Whitethroat within our limits, I only know that it was found in May, breeding abundantly in Cashmere in the lower hills, by Mr. Brooks. He did not notice it comparatively high up; for instance at Goolmerg, which, though not above 9000 feet high, is at the base of a snowy range, he did not see it at all.

It builds a loose, rather shallow, cup-shaped nest, composed chiefly of grass, coarser on the exterior and finer interiorly, which it places in low bushes and thickets at no great elevation from the ground. The nest is more or less lined with fine grass and roots.

It lays four or sometimes five eggs.

Mr. Brooks writes:--"I found this Whitethroat tolerably numerous in Cashmere, where it appears generally distributed, occurring at from 5500 to 6500 feet elevation or thereabouts, It frequents places where there is abundance of brushwood or underwood, especially along the banks of rivers or near them.

"I found several nests, and they were all placed in small bushes, and from 4 to 6 feet above the ground. One was in a bush on a small island in the Kangan River, which runs into the Sind River; and this nest I well remember was just so high that I could not look into it as I stood. The nests precisely resembled in size and structure those of _C. garrula_ which I have seen at home, being formed of grasses, roots, and fine fibres, and I think scantily lined with a few black horsehairs; but I forget this now. They were slight, thinly formed nests, very neat but strong, and had bits of spider's web stuck about the outside here and there. This appears to be the decoration this bird and _C. garrula_ are partial to. They were not added, I think, for the purpose of rendering the nest inconspicuous, for there were just enough to give the nest a spotted appearance.

"The song of this species strongly resembles that of its congener, and is full, loud, and sweet. I found the nests by the song of the male, for he generally sings near the nest. The eggs don't differ from those of _C. garrula_ in my collection."

Major Wardlaw Ramsay says, writing of Afghanistan:--"This Warbler was very common and was breeding by the 27th May. All the nests found were shallow cups, composed entirely of dried grass, and situated in small bushes, frequently juniper, about 2½ feet from the ground. The eggs vary much both in size and colour--some being long ovals, nearly pure white, spotted with pale brown towards the larger end, and others of a much rounder form and a pale greenish white, thickly spotted in a broad zone near the thicker end and smeared with very pale brown, or else spotted and smeared with olive-brown over the whole of the thicker end."

The eggs are somewhat broad ovals, typically a good deal pointed towards the lesser end. They vary, however, much both in size and shape: some are short and broad, decidedly pointed at the small end; others are more elongated, and some are almost regular ellipsoids. The eggs have little or no gloss; the ground-colour is white, with a more or less perceptible though very faint greenish tinge. Typically they are very Shrike-like in their markings, the majority of these being gathered together in a more or less dense zone near the large end. The markings consist of small spots, blotches, and specks of pale yellowish brown, more or less intermingled with spots and specks of dull inky purple or grey; in many eggs there are very few markings, and these are mere spots except in the zone, while in others full-sized markings are scattered, though thinly, more or less over the whole surface of the egg. In some the zone is confluent and blurred; in others composed of small sharply defined specks and spots. Here and there a pretty large yellowish-brown cloud may be met with partially or entirely bounded by a narrow hair-like black line. Tiny black specks now and then occur, and little zigzag lines that might have been borrowed from a Bunting's egg; but these are not met with in probably more than one out of ten eggs.

In length the eggs vary from 0·6 to 0·75, and in breadth from 0·48 to 0·55; but the average of sixteen eggs is 0·66 by 0·5.

406. Phylloscopus tytleri, Brooks. _Tytler's Willow-Warbler_.

Phylloscopus tytleri, _Brooks, Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 560 bis.

Tytler's Willow-Warbler, as yet a rare bird in collections, and which appears only to straggle down to the plains of Upper India during the cold season, was found by Captain Cock breeding at Sonamerg (9400 feet elevation) in the Sindh Valley, Cashmere, in June.

Mr. Brooks, who discriminated the bird, said of it and its nidification:--"In plumage resembling _P. viridanus_, but of a richer and deeper olive; it is entirely without the 'whitish wing-bar,' which is always present in _viridanus_, unless in very abraded plumage. The wing is shorter, so is the tail; but the great difference is in the bill, which is much longer, darker, and of a more pointed and slender form in _P. tytleri_. The song and notes are utterly different, so are the localities frequented. _P. viridanus_ is an inhabitant of brushwood ravines, at 9000 and 10,000 feet elevation; while _P. tytleri_ is exclusively a pine-forest _Phylloscopus_. In the places frequented by _P. viridanus_, it must build on the ground, or very near it; but our new species builds, 40 feet up a pine-tree, a compact half-domed nest on the side of a branch.

"Captain Cock shot one of this species off the nest at Sonamerg with four eggs. The bird he sent to me, and gave me two of the eggs. Regarding the nest he says: 'I took a nest, containing four eggs, about 40 feet up a pine, on the outer end of a bough, by means of ropes and sticks, and I shot the female bird. I do not know what the bird is. I thought it was _P. viridanus_, but I send it to you. The nest was very deep, solidly built, and cup-shaped. Eggs, plain white.' In conversation with Captain Cock he afterwards told me that he had watched the bird building its nest. It was rather on the side of the branch, and its solid formation reminded him of a Goldfinch's nest. It was composed of grass, fibres, moss, and lichens externally and thickly lined with hair and feathers. The eggs were pure unspotted white, rather smaller than those of _Reguloides occipitalis_. Two of them measured ·58 by ·48 and ·57 by ·45. They were taken on the 4th June."

Captain Cock himself writes to me:--"Of all the birds' nests that I know of, this is one of the most difficult to find. One day in the forest at Sonamerg, Cashmere, I noticed a Warbler fly into a high pine with a feather in its bill. I watched with the glasses and saw that it was constructing a nest, so allowing a reasonable time to elapse (nine days or so) I went and took the nest. It was placed on the outer end of a bough, about 40 feet up a high pine, and I had to take the nest by means of a spar lashed at right angles to the tree, the outer extremity of which was supported by a rope fastened to the top of the pine. The nest was a very solid, deep cup, of grass, fibres, and lichens externally, and lined with hair and feathers. It contained four white eggs, measuring 0·58 by 0·48.

"I shot the female, which I sent to Mr. Brooks for identification.

"I forgot to add that this nest, the only one I ever found, was taken early in June."

The egg of this species closely resembles that of some of the species of _Abrornis_--a moderately broad oval, slightly pointed at the small end, pure white, and almost glossless. The only specimen I have seen measures 0·58 by 0·45.

410. Phylloscopus fuscatus (Blyth). _The Dusky Willow-Warbler_.

Phylloscopus fuscatus (_Blyth), Jerd B.I._ ii, p. 191. Horornis fulviventer, _Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 523.

Mr. Blyth long ago stated in 'The Ibis' that _Horornis fulviventris_ was identical with _P. fuscatus_[A].

[Footnote A: It is with considerable hesitation that I reproduce this note. _Horornis fulviventris_ with which Jerdon identified the bird, the nest of which he describes, is certainly _P. fuscatus_. The only doubt I have is whether Jerdon, who apparently had not seen a specimen of _H. fulviventris_, rightly identified his bird with it. With this explanation the note is republished as it appeared in the 'Rough Draft.'--ED.]

Subsequently I procured several specimens which were quite distinct from _P. fuscatus_, structurally as well as in plumage answering perfectly to Hodgson's description.

I wrote to Dr. Jerdon mentioning this fact, and he replied:--"I also am not satisfied of the identity of this species (_H. fulviventris_) with _Phylloscopus fuscatus_. I have recently got at Darjeeling what I take to be _Horornis fulviventris_, and it is somewhat smaller in all its dimensions, but I had not a typical _P. fuscatus_ with which to compare it. Specimens measured 4¾ to 4-7/8 inches; expanse 6½ inches; wing 2 to 2-1/16 inches. I procured the nest and eggs in July; the nest, cup-shaped, on a bank, composed of grass chiefly, with a few fibres; and the eggs, three in number, pinky white, with a few reddish spots."

It is certainly not _P. fuscatus_ (though possibly some specimens of _P. fuscatus_ in the British Museum may bear a label formerly attached to a bird of this species), nor any other _Horornis_ or _Horeites_ included in Dr. Jerdon's work, all of which I have. Mr. Blyth possibly went by Mr. Hodgson's specimens in the British Museum, but some confusion has, it is known, somehow crept in amongst these; and I have no doubt myself that _Horornis fulviventris_ is a good species, and that it was the nest and eggs of this species which Dr. Jerdon found[A].