Chapter VII: Part 7

The eggs are moderately broad ovals, somewhat pointed at times towards the small end, and occasionally slightly pyriform. The shell is fine and glossy; the ground-colour is pinky white, with a redder shade about the large end. A few streaks, spots, and hieroglyphics of a deep brownish red, each more or less surrounded by a reddish nimbus, are scattered very thinly about the surface of the egg, while, besides these, a few small greyish-purple subsurface-looking spots may be observed about the larger end. The average size of the seven eggs I possess is 0·82 by 0·64.

163. Alcippe nepalensis (Hodgs.). _The Nepal Babbler_.

Alcippe nipalensis (_Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 18; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 388.

The Nepal Babbler, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, breeds from March to May, building a deep, massive, cup-shaped nest, firmly fastened between two or three upright shoots, and laying three or four eggs, which are figured as measuring 0·7 by 0·55. He has the following note:--

"_Valley, April 1st_.--A pair and nest. Nest is round, 4 inches deep on the outside and 2 inches within, and the same wide, being of the usual soup-basin shape and open at the top, made of dry leaves bound together with hair-like grass-fibres and moss-roots, which also form the lining, further compacted by spiders' webs, which, being also twisted round three adjacent twigs, form the suspenders of the nest, the bottom of which does not rest upon anything; attached to a low bush 1½ foot from the ground. The nest contained three eggs of a pinkish-white ground thickly spotted with chestnut, the spots being almost entirely confluent at the large end."

Dr. Jerdon says:--"I had the nest and eggs brought me by the Lepchas. The nest was loosely made with grass and bamboo-leaves, and the eggs were white with a few reddish-brown spots."

A nest of this species was found near Darjeeling in July, at an elevation of between 3000 and 4000 feet. It was situated in a small bush, in low brushwood, and placed only about 2 feet from the ground. The nest is a compactly made and moderately deep cup. The exterior portion of the nest is composed of bamboo-leaves, more or less held in their places by fine horsehair-like black roots, with which also the cavity is very thickly and neatly lined. Exteriorly the nest is about 3·75 inches in diameter, and nearly 3 in height. The cavity is 2·25 in diameter and 1·6 in depth.

The nest contained three nearly fresh eggs. The eggs are moderately elongated ovals, very regular and slightly pointed towards the small end. The shell is fine and exhibits a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white or pinkish white, and they are _very_ minutely speckled all over with purplish red. The specklings exhibit a decided tendency to form a more or less perfect, and more or less confluent, cap or zone at the large end.

Two of the eggs measure 0·72 and 0·71 in length, and 0·54 and 0·52 in breadth.

From Sikhim, Mr. Gammie writes:--"I have only found this Babbler breeding in May at elevations about 5000 feet, but it doubtless breeds also at much lower elevations, probably down to 2000 feet. The nests are placed within 2 or 3 feet of the ground, between several slender upright shoots, to which they are firmly attached. They are exceedingly neat and compact-built cups, measuring externally about 4 inches across by 2·75 deep, internally 2·15 wide by 1·6 deep. They are composed of dry bamboo-leaves held together by a little grass and very fine, hair-like fern-roots. The egg-cavity is lined with fern-roots.

"The eggs are three or four in number."

Numerous nests of this species kindly sent me by Messrs. Gammie, Mandelli, and others, taken during the months of May and June in British and Native Sikhim, at elevations of from 3000 to 5500 feet, were all of the same type and placed in the same situations, namely amongst low scrub and brushwood, at heights of from 18 inches to 3 feet from the ground. The interior and, in fact, the main body of the nests appear to be in all cases chiefly composed of fine black hair-like roots, with which, in some cases, especially about the upper margin, a little fine grass is intermingled. The cavities are generally much about the same size, say ~2 inches in diameter by 1·25 in depth: but the size of the nests as a whole varies very much. The nest is always coated exteriorly with dry leaves of trees and ferns, broad blades of grass, and the like, fixed together sometimes by mere pressure, but generally here and there held together by fine fibrous roots, and this coating varies so much that one nest before me measures 5·5 in external diameter, and another barely 4, the external covering of fern-leaves, flags, and dry and dead leaves being very abundant in the former, while in the other the covering consists entirely of broad dry blades of grass very neatly laid together. Two, three, and four fresh eggs were found in these several nests, but in no case were more than four eggs found.

Two nests taken by Mr. Gammie contained three and two fresh eggs respectively. The eggs had a delicate pink ground, and were richly blotched, in one egg exclusively, in the others chiefly about the larger end, with chestnut, or almost maroon-red, here and there almost deepening in spots to black, and elsewhere paling off into a rufous haze. The markings are confluent about the large end, and there in places intermingled with a purplish tinge. The other eggs had a china-white ground, with more gloss than the specimens previously described, with numerous small, blackish brownish-red spots and specks, almost exclusively confined to the large end, where they are more or less enveloped in a pinky-red nimbus.

These eggs varied from 0·75 to 0·79 in length, and from 0·56 to 0·6 in breadth.

Other eggs, again, with the same pinky-white ground are thickly but minutely freckled and speckled with rather pale brownish red, most thickly towards and about the large end, where they become confluent in patches, and where tiny purple clouds and spots are dimly traceable.

164. Alcippe phaeocephala (Jerd.). _The Nilghiri Babbler_.

Alcippe poiocephala (_Jerd.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 18; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E.._ no. 389.

The Nilghiri Babbler breeds, apparently, throughout the hilly regions of Southern India. It lays from January to June. A nest taken near Neddivattam by Mr. Davison on the 5th April was placed between the fork of three twigs of a bush, at the height of 5 or 6 feet from the ground. It was a deep cup, massive enough but very loosely put together, and composed of green moss, dead leaves, a little grass and moss-roots. It was entirely lined with rather coarse black moss-roots. In shape it was nearly an inverted cone, some 3½ inches in diameter at top, and fully 5 inches in height. The cavity was over 2 inches in diameter and nearly 2 inches in depth. A few cobwebs are here and there intermingled in the external surface, but the grass-roots appear to have been chiefly relied on for holding the nest together.

Another nest found by Miss Cockburn on the 5th June on a small bush, about 7 or 8 feet in height, standing on the banks of a stream, was somewhat different. It was placed in the midst of a clump of leaves, at the tips of three or four little twigs, between which the nest was partly suspended and partly wedged in. It was composed of fine grass-stems, with a few grass-and moss-roots as a lining interiorly, and with several dead leaves and a good deal of wool incorporated in the outer surface, the greater portion of which, however, was concealed by the leaves of the twigs amongst which it was built. It was only about 3½ inches in diameter, and the egg-cavity was less than 2½ inches across, and not above 1½ inch in depth.

Mr. Davison writes:--"This bird breeds on the slopes of the Nilghiris in the latter end of March and April. The nest is uncommonly like that of _Trochalopterum cachinnans_, but is of course smaller; it is deep and cup-shaped, composed externally of moss and dead leaves, and is lined with moss and fern-roots. It is always (as far as I have observed) fastened to a thin branch about 6 feet from the ground. All the nests I have ever observed were on small trees in the shadiest parts of the jungle, far in, and never near the edge of the jungle or in the open. The eggs are very handsome, and are, I think, the prettiest of the eggs to be found on the Nilghiris and their slopes. The ground-colour is of a beautiful reddish pink (especially when fresh), blotched and streaked with purplish carmine."

Mr. J. Darling, junior, says:--"The Nilghiri Quaker-Thrush breeds on the slopes of the Nilghiri hills, generally in the depths of the forest. I have, however, taken nests in scrub-jungle. I have also found the nest at Neddivattam in April.

"In October I found a nest of this bird at Culputty, S. Wynaad, about 2800 feet above the sea, built at the end of a branch 4 feet from the ground."

Mr. T.F. Bourdillon writes from Travancore:--"This bird breeds commonly with us, and its nest is more often met with than that of any other. The nest is cup-shaped and made of lichen, leaves, and grass. It is usually placed 4 to 8 feet from the ground in the middle of jungle, and is about 2 inches in diameter by 1¾-2 in depth. The full number of eggs is two, and I have obtained on

"April, 1871. 2 fresh eggs.
Mar. 21, 1873. 2 fresh eggs.
Feb. 16, 1874. 2 fresh eggs.
April 11, 1874. 2 young birds, and many nests just vacated."

As in the case of _Pyctorhis sinensis_, the eggs differ much in colour and markings. The two eggs of this species sent me by Miss Cockburn from Kotagherry are moderately broad ovals, very obtuse at the larger end and somewhat compressed towards the smaller. The shell is fine and somewhat glossy. The ground-colour is white or pinkish white, and they are thickly mottled and freckled, most thickly at the larger end, where the markings form a more or less confluent mottled cap, with two shades of pinkish-, and in some spots slightly brownish, red, and towards the large end, where the markings are dense, traces of pale purple clouds underlying the primary markings are observable. In general appearance these eggs not a little resemble those of some of the Bulbuls, and it seems difficult to believe that they are eggs of birds of the same genus as _Alcippe atriceps_[A], the eggs of which are so much smaller and of such a totally different type. Two eggs of the same species taken by Mr. Davison are moderately broad ovals, somewhat compressed towards one end; have a fine and slightly glossy shell. The ground-colour is a delicate pink. There are a few pretty large and conspicuous spots and hair-lines of deep brownish red, almost black, and there are a few large pinkish-brown smears and clouds, generally lying round or about the dark spots; and then towards the large end there are several small clouds and patches of faint inky purple, which appear to underlie the other markings. The character of the markings on some of these eggs reminds one strongly of those of the Chaffinch. Other eggs taken later by Miss Cockburn at Kotagherry on the 21st January are just intermediate between the two types above described.

[Footnote A: _Alcippe atriceps_ and _Alcippe phaeocephala_, as they have hitherto been styled by all Indian ornithologists, are not in the least congeneric, as I have pointed out in my 'Birds of India.' I am glad to see my views corroborated by Mr. Hume's remarks on the eggs. There is no reason why these two birds should be considered congeneric, except a general similarity in colour and habits. Their structure differs much.--ED.]

All the eggs are very nearly the same size, and only vary in length from 0·75 to 0·86, and in breadth from 0·58 to 0·65.

165. Alcippe phayrii, Bl. _The Burmese Babbler_.

Alcippe phayrii, _Bl., Hume, Cat._ no. 388 bis.

Major C.T. Bingham writes from Tenasserim:--"In the half-dry bed of one of the many streams that one has to cross between Kaukarit and Meeawuddy, I found on the 23rd February a nest of the above species. A firm little cup, borne up some 2 feet above the ground on the fronds of a strong-growing fern, to three of the leaf-stems of which it was attached. It was made of vegetable fibres and roots, and lined interiorly with fine black hair-like roots, on which rested three fresh eggs, in colour pinky white, blotched and streaked with dull reddish pink, and with faint clouds and spots of purple. The eggs measure ·79 x ·58, ·78 x ·58, and ·76 x ·59."

Mr. J. Darling, junior, informs us that on the 9th April he "took three fresh eggs of _Alcippe phayrii_, in heavy jungle, at a very low elevation, at the foot of Nwalabo in Tenasserim. The nest was built in a small bush 4 feet from the ground (hanging between two forked twigs), of bamboo and other leaves, moss, and a few fine twigs, and lined with moss and fern-roots, 2 inches in diameter, 1½ deep. It was exactly like very many nests of _A. phaeocephala_, taken on the Nilghiri Hills, though some of the latter are much more compact and pretty."

Mr. W. Davison, also writing of Tenasserim, says:--"On the 1st March, in a little bush about 2 feet above the ground, I found the above-mentioned bird seated on a little moss-made nest, and utterly refusing to move off until I almost touched her, when she hopped on to a branch a few feet off, and disclosed three little naked fledglings struggling or just struggled out of their shells. I retired a little way off, and she immediately reseated herself. The eggs, to judge by the fragments, were of a vinous claret tinge, spotted and streaked with a darker shade of the same."

These eggs closely resemble those of _A. nepalensis_. They are neither broad nor elongated ovals, often with a _slight_ pyriform tendency, always apparently very blunt at both ends.

The ground-colour, of which but little is visible, in some eggs varies from pinky white to pale reddish pink, and the egg is profusely smeared and clouded with pinky or purplish red, varying much in shade and tint. Here and there, in most eggs, are a few spots, or occasionally short, crooked or curved lines, where the colour has been laid on so thick that it is almost black, and such spots are generally, though not always, more or less surrounded with a haze of a rather deeper tint than the rest of the smear in which they occur. The markings are often deepest coloured, or most conspicuous, about the large end, where occasionally a recognizable cap is formed and there a decided purplish tinge may be noticed in patches. The general character of the eggs is very uniform; but the eggs vary to such a degree _inter se_, that it is hopeless to attempt to describe all the variations. They vary in length from 0·68 to 0·78 and in breadth from 0·53 to 0·59, but the average of nine eggs is 0·75 by 0·58.

166. Rhopocichla atriceps (Jerd.) _The Black-headed Babbler_.

Alcippe atriceps (_Jerd._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 19; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 390.

Writing from Coonoor in the Nilghiris, Mr. Wait tells me that the Black-headed Babbler breeds in his neighbourhood in June and July:--"It builds in weeds and grass beside the banks of old roads, at elevations of from 5000 to 5500 feet. The nest is placed at a height of from a foot to 2 feet from the ground, is domed and loosely built, composed almost entirely of dry blades of the lemon-grass, and lined with the same or a few softer grass-blades. In shape it is more or less ovate, the longer axis vertical, and the external diameters 4 and 8 inches. They lay two or three rather broad oval eggs, which have a white ground, speckled and spotted, chiefly at the large end, with reddish brown."

Miss Cockburn sends me a nest of this species which she found on the 17th June amongst reeds on the edge of a stream, about 2 or 3 feet above the water's edge. It appears to have been a globular mass very loosely put together, of broad reed-leaves, between 3 or 4 inches in diameter, and with a central unlined cavity.

Mr. Iver Macpherson, writing from Mysore, says:--"I have only met with this bird in heavy bamboo-forest, and have only found two nests, viz., on the 25th May and 2nd July, 1879. Both nests were fixed low down (2 to 3 feet) in bamboo-clumps, and each contained two eggs, which, for the size of the bird, I considered very large. Nest globular, and very loosely constructed of bamboo-leaves and blades of grass."

An egg sent me from Coonoor by Mr. Wait is a moderately broad, very regular oval, only slightly compressed towards the smaller end. The shell is very fine and satiny, but has only a slight gloss. The ground-colour is white or slightly greyish white, and towards the large end it is profusely speckled with minute dots of brownish and purplish red, a few specks of the same colour being scattered about the rest of the surface of the eggs.

Another egg sent me from Kotagherry by Miss Cockburn exactly corresponds with the above description.

Both are precisely the same in size, and measure 0·75 by 0·55. Other eggs measure from 0·75 to 0·79 in length by 0·53 to 0·58 in breadth[A].

[Footnote A: Mr. T. Fulton Bourdillon (S.F. ix, p. 300) gives an interesting account of the nest and eggs of a species of _Rhopocichla_, which he failed to identify satisfactorily. It may have been _R. atriceps_ or _R. bourdilloni_. Most probably, judging from the locality, it was the latter. As, however, there is a doubt about it, I do not insert the note.--ED.]

167. Rhopocichla nigrifrons (Bl.). _The Black-fronted Babbler_.

Alcippe nigrifrons, _Bl., Hume, cat._ no. 390 ter.

Colonel Legge writes regarding the nidification of the Black-fronted Babbler in Ceylon:--"After finding hundreds of the curious dry-leaf structures, mentioned in 'The Ibis,' 1874, p. 19, entirely void of contents, and having come almost to the conclusion that they were built as roosting-places, I at last came on a newly-constructed one containing two eggs, on the 5th of January last; the bird was in the nest at the time, so that my identification of the eggs was certain. The nest of this Babbler is generally placed in a bramble or straggling piece of undergrowth near a path in the jungle or other open spot; it is about 3 or 4 feet from the ground, and is entirely made of dead leaves and a few twigs; the leaves are laid one over another horizontally, forming a smooth bottom or interior. In external form it is a shapeless ball about 8 or 10 inches in diameter, and has an unfinished opening at the side. The birds build with astonishing quickness, picking up the leaves one after another from the ground just beneath the nest. When fresh the eggs are fleshy white, becoming pure white when emptied; they are large for the size of the bird, rather stumpy ovals, of a smooth texture, and spotted openly and sparingly with brownish red, over bluish-grey specks; in one specimen the darker markings are redder than in the other, and ran mostly in the direction of the axis. Dimensions: 0·74 by 0·56 and 0·74 by 0·55."

169. Stachyrhis nigriceps, Hodgs. _The Black-throated Babbler_.

Stachyris nigriceps, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p, 21; _Hume. Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 391.

I have never taken a nest of this species, the Black-throated Babbler, but Mr. Gammie, a careful observer, in whose neighbourhood (Rungbee, near Darjeeling) this bird is very abundant, has taken many nests, two of which he has sent me, with many eggs.

One nest, found at Rishap, on the 14th May, at an elevation of about 4000 feet, contained four nearly fresh eggs. It was a very loose structure, a shallow cup of about 3½ inches in diameter, composed of fine grass-stems without any lining, and coated externally with broad coarse grass-blades.

Another nest taken low down in the valley, at about an elevation of 2000 feet, on the 17th June, contained three fresh eggs. It was placed in a bank at the foot of a shrub. Like the previous one, it was a loose but rather deeper cup, interiorly composed of moderately fine grass, exteriorly of dead leaves. The egg-cavity measured about 2 inches in diameter, and 1½ inch in depth. _In situ_, both probably were more or less domed, the cups more or less overhung by a hood or canopy.

Mr. Gammie remarks:--"I have seen numerous nests of this species in former years, and have found two this season, but have never seen eggs with 'faint darker spots' as mentioned by Jerdon. Hodgson's description is quite correct. The eggs are a 'pale fawn-colour' _before they are blown_, the shells being so translucent that the yolk shows through partially. The shell is pure white in itself. The cavity of the cup-shaped part of one nest beside me is 2 inches deep by 2 inches wide; outer dimensions 5¾ inches deep (from top of hood) by 4 inches wide across the face of entrance. It is loosely though neatly made of bamboo-leaves and fern, lined with dry grass. The bird breeds in May and June, and lays four or five eggs."

Mr. Eugene Gates tells us that he "procured only one specimen of this bird, and that was in the evergreen forests of the Pegu Hills. I shot it off the nest on the 29th April. The nest was on a bank of a nullah well concealed among dead leaves, about 2 feet above the bottom of the bank. The nest is domed, about 7 inches in height and 5 inches in diameter externally, with the entrance at the side near the top. The outside is a mass of bamboo-leaves very loose, being in no way bound together; each leaf is curled to the shape of the nest. The inside, a thin lining only of vegetable fibres. There were three eggs, just on the point of hatching; colour, pure white."

The Black-throated Babbler breeds, according to Mr. Hodgson, in April and May, and builds a large deep cup-shaped nest, either upon the ground in the midst of grass, or at a short distance above the ground between five or six thin twigs; a nest which he measured was externally 4·5 inches in diameter and 3·5 in height, while the cavity was 2·5 in diameter and 2 in depth. The nest is composed of dry bamboo- and other leaves wound together with grass and moss-roots, and lined with these, and is a very firm compact structure, considering the materials. They lay four or five eggs, which are figured as very regular rather broad ovals, of a nearly uniform, very pale _café-au-lait_ colour (these were the _unblown_ eggs), measuring about 0·75 by 0·58.

Dr. Jerdon remarks:--"A nest and eggs were brought to me at Darjeeling, and said to be of this species. The nest was rather large, very loosely made of bamboo-leaves and fibres, and the eggs were of a pale salmon-colour, with some faint darker spots."

There is no doubt that these must have been the eggs of some other species.

Major C.T. Bingham tells us:--"This little bird, though not at all common, breeds in the Sinzaway Reserve, in Tenasserim. I took five hard-set eggs, placed in a beautiful little domed nest, at the foot of a clump of bamboos, on the bank of a dry choung or nullah. This was on the 20th March. The nest was composed exteriorly of dry bamboo-leaves, and interiorly of fine grass-roots, the entrance being on one side. I shot the female as she crept off the nest."

It does not seem that in the Himalayas this species domes its nest. Numerous other nests that have been sent me from Sikhim, taken in May, June, and July, were all of the same type--shallow or deeper cups loosely put together, exteriorly composed of coarse blades of grass, dead leaves, bamboo-spathes and the like, held together with a little vegetable fibre or fibrous roots, and interiorly of fine grass generally more or less mingled with blackish roots, which in some nests greatly predominate over the grass.

The eggs are broad ovals, somewhat compressed towards one end, in some cases slightly pyriform. They are pure white, spotless, and fairly glossy.

They vary from 0·68 to 0·84 in length, and from 0·55 to 0·61 in breadth, but the average of thirty-four eggs is 0·76 by somewhat over 0·58.

170. Stachyrhis chrysaea, Hodgs. _The Golden-headed Babbler_.

Stachyris chrysaea, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 22; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 394.

Mr. Blyth remarks:--"The egg, as figured by Mr. Hodgson, is pinkish white, and the nest domed and placed on the summit of a sedge. _S. praecognita_ lays a blue egg." (Ibis, 1866, p. 309.)

There is no figure of either the nest or eggs of the Golden-headed Babbler amongst the drawings of Mr. Hodgson that I possess.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took a nest of this bird out of a large forest, at 5000 feet elevation, on the 15th May. It is of an oval shape, neatly made of small bamboo-leaves only, devoid of lining, and was fixed vertically between a few upright sprays, within two feet of the ground. It measures externally 5·25 inches in height by 4 in diameter; internally 1·5 in depth, from lip of egg-cavity, by 1·75 in diameter. The entrance is also 1·75 across.

"The eggs were four in number; three of them well set and the fourth quite fresh. The set eggs were altogether pure white, but the fresh egg, unblown, was of a pinky-white colour with a pure white cap; when blown it exactly resembled the others."

The eggs sent as pertaining to this species by Mr. Gammie are very regular ovals, pure white, and somewhat glossy, but they are so small that I can scarcely credit their really belonging to this species. Their cubit contents are not half those of the average eggs of _S. nigriceps_. They measure 0·63 by 0·48.

172. Stachyrhidopsis ruficeps, Bl. _The Red-headed Babbler_.

Stachyris ruficeps, _Bl., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 22; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 393.

The Red-headed Babbler breeds in Nepal, according to Mr. Hodgson, from April to June, building a large massive cup-shaped nest amongst bamboos, as a rule, at heights of from 7 to 10 feet from the ground. The nest is wedged in between half a dozen or more creepers and shoots, and is composed almost exclusively of dry bamboo-leaves neatly, but rather loosely, interwoven, and lined also with these leaves. One which he measured was rather oval in shape, 5·25 inches in diameter one way, by 4 the other, and 3·6 in height. The leaves used in the rim of the cup were projected a little inwards, so as to make the mouth of the cavity a little smaller than the diameter of this latter within. The diameter of the mouth was 2 inches, that of the cavity 2·5, and the latter is about 1·5 deep. Four eggs are laid, a sort of brownish white, speckled and spotted with brown or reddish brown. The egg figured measures 0·7 by 0·52, and is a moderately broad, regular oval.

Dr. Jerdon says:--"A nest and eggs, said to be of this species, were brought to me at Darjeeling. The nest was a loose structure of grass and fibres, and contained two eggs of a greenish-white colour with some rusty spots."

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took two nests of this Babbler in April; one of them at an elevation of 3500 feet, the other at 5000 feet, but it no doubt breeds also both lower and higher. They are of a neat egg-shape, with entrance at side, and were fixed vertically between a few upright sprays, within three feet of the ground, in open situations near large trees. Mr. Hodgson evidently did not take the one he describes with his own hands, for he places it horizontally, which gives a height of 3·6 inches only. The external dimensions are about 5·5 inches in height and 4 in diameter. Internally the diameter is 2 inches, and the depth, from roof, 3·25. The entrance is 2 across. They are composed of dry bamboo-leaves only, put neatly and firmly together, and are lined with a very few grassy fibres. They each contained four well-set eggs."

Mr. Mandelli, however, took a nest of this species at Lebong on the 23rd June, in the middle of a tea-bush which grew at the side of a small ravine, which was neither hooded nor domed. The nest was about 18 inches from the ground and completely sheltered from above by tea-leaves. It was a deep cup composed externally chiefly of bamboo-leaves, but with a good many dead leaves of trees incorporated in the base, and lined with very fine grass-stems. It contained four fresh eggs. It is quite clear that this species, like _S. nigriceps_, only domes its nest in certain situations.

The eggs obtained by Mr. Gammie and Mr. Mandelli are very regular, slightly elongated ovals. The shell is very fine and compact, but has only a faint gloss. The ground is white and round the larger end is a zone or imperfect cap of specks and spots of brownish red, generally intermingled with tiny spots, usually very faint, of pale purple. A few specks and spots brown, yellowish, or reddish brown, and sometimes also pale purple, are scattered about the rest of the egg.

In length the eggs vary from 0·64 to 0·72, and in breadth from 0·50 to 0·53, but the average of eight eggs was 0·68 by 0·52 nearly.

174. Stachyrhidopsis pyrrhops, Hodgs. _The Red-billed Babbler_.

Stachyris pyrrhops, _Hodgs. Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 21; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 392.

Accounts differ somewhat as to the eggs of the Red-billed Babbler.

From Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall writes:--"Nest found in low ground, about 100 yards from the River Jheelum, situated in a low bush, externally composed of broad dry reed-leaves, and interiorly of fine grass, cup-shaped. Eggs, four in number, long oval, white, with a few reddish specks at the larger end. Length ·7, breadth ·5. Lays in the latter end of June, 4000 feet up."

The nest, which he kindly sent me, is a deep cup, coarsely made interiorly of grass-stems, externally of broad blades of grass, in which a few dead leaves are incorporated; there is no lining. Exteriorly the nest is about 3·5 inches in diameter, and about 3 in depth; the egg-cavity is a little more than 2 inches in diameter, and fully 1·75 in depth.

Mr. Hodgson "found the nest" of this species in Nepal, "at an elevation of about 6000 feet, in shrubby upland." It was "placed in a small shrub about 2 feet from the ground." It was "a very deep cup, about 4 inches in length, and 2·5 in diameter externally, placed obliquely endwise upon cross-stems of the shrub, and opening, as it were obliquely, upwards at one end," the cavity being about 1·5 in diameter. The nest was made of "dry leaves and grass pretty compactly woven." The nest "contained four eggs," which are described as "whitish, with spare and faint fawn-coloured spots," and are figured as measuring 0·65 by 0·47.

Captain Hutton says:--"This is a common species both in the Dhoon and in the hills, and may be found at all seasons, making known its presence among the brushwood by the utterance of a clear and musical note like the ringing of a tiny bell. In the winter time it is often mixed up with flocks composed of _Siva strigula_ and _Liothriae luteus_, creeping among the bushes like the _Pari_ and _Phylloscopi_. It constructs its nest at the base of bushes, the eggs being three in number, of a faint greenish grey, thickly irrorated with small reddish-brown specks. The nest is composed of dry grass-blades externally, within which is a layer of fine woody stalks and fibres, and lined with black hair. It is cup-shaped, and placed upon a thick bed of dried leaves, which are most probably accumulated beneath the bush by the wind. One nest was taken at Dehra, in a garden, on the 30th July, and others at Mussoorie about the same time."

But the eggs sent by Captain Hutton clearly do not, I think, pertain to this species. Those taken by Colonel Marshall are certainly genuine, and are considerably larger and very differently coloured eggs.

In shape they are moderately broad ovals, some of them slightly compressed towards the small end. The shell is very fine and smooth, but with scarcely any gloss; the ground is pure white, and they are thinly speckled and spotted, the markings being much more numerous about the large end, where they have a tendency to form an ill-defined cap or zone with brownish red or pinky brown.

In length they vary from 0·62 to 0·69, and in breadth from 0·5 to 0·52.

175. Cyanoderma erythropterum (Blyth). _The Red-winged Babbler_.

Cyanoderma erythropterum, _Bl., Hume, cat._ no. 396 bis.

Mr. W. Davison found the nest of the Red-winged Babbler at Bankasoon on the 23rd April, just when he was leaving the place. Unfortunately the birds had not yet laid. The nest was a ball composed of dry reed-leaves, about 6 inches in diameter. Externally, with a circular aperture on one side, very like that of _Mixornis rubricapillus_ and of _Dumetia_, and again not at all unlike that of _Ochromela nigrorufa_, but placed in a bush about 4 feet high and not on the ground.

176. Mixornis rubricapillus (Tick.). _The Yellow-breasted Babbler_.

Mixornis rubricapilla (_Tick.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 23; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 395.

This, though said to occur also in Central India, is a purely Indo-Burmese form, found chiefly in the Eastern sub-Himalayan jungles, Assam, Cachar, Burma, and Tenasserim.

It is only from this latter province that I have any information as to the nidification of the Yellow-breasted Babbler.

Mr. Davison writes to me:--"At a small village, called Shymootee or Tsinmokehtee, about 7 miles from the town of Tavoy, and very slightly above the sea-level, say 50 feet, I found on the 6th of May, 1874, a nest of this species. The nest was placed in a dense clump of a very thorny plant (somewhat like a pineapple bush) about a foot from the ground; it was not particularly well concealed. The nest was built of bamboo-leaves, and in general appearance was not at all unlike that of _Ochromela nigrorufa_; but the egg-cavity was very shallow, so that by moving aside an overhanging leaf the eggs were distinctly visible. There were three partially incubated eggs in the nest, a somewhat dull white, spotted with pinkish dots."

The nest is more or less egg-shaped, the longer axis vertical, with a circular aperture on one side near the top.

The exterior diameters are 5 and nearly 4 inches. The aperture about 1·5 in diameter. The cavity is barely 2 inches in diameter, and only 1·25 deep below the lower edge of the entrance.

Both nest and eggs strongly recall those of _Dumetia hyperythra_. The former is composed of the broad, grass-like leaves of the bamboo, and with only a few stems of grass here and there intermingled as if by accident. In the sides of the cavity the leaf-blades are so neatly laid together, side by side, that the interior seems as if planked, and at the bottom of the cavity there is a very scanty lining of very fine grass-stems.

Mr. Oates says:--"I found a nest on the 2nd June near Pegu, with three eggs. Failing to snare the bird at once, I left the nest for a short time, and on my return found the eggs gone. I am satisfied, however, that the nest belonged to the present species; for I caught a glimpse of the sitting bird. The nest was built on the top of a stump, well concealed by leafy twigs, except the entrance, which was open to view. It was a ball of grass with the opening at the side.

"_28th June_.--Nest in a shrub about 10 feet from the ground. A domed structure with an opening at the side 3 inches high by 2 broad. Height of nest about 6 and outside width 4. Made entirely of bamboo-leaves and lined sparingly with grass. Eggs 3.

"I have found numerous nests of this species, but always after the young had flown. They appear almost always to be placed in shrubs at heights of 2 to 10 feet from the ground. One nest, however, on which I watched the birds at work, was in a pineapple plant between the stalk of the fruit and one of the leaves, almost on the ground."

The eggs are regular ovals, moderately elongated, only very slightly compressed towards the smaller end, which is only just appreciably smaller.

The shell is very fine and delicate, excessively smooth and fragile, but with only a faint gloss. The ground is a dead white, with perhaps the least possible pinkish tinge. The markings consist of _tiny_ specks of brownish or purplish red and pale yellowish brown, thinly scattered over the rest of the surface, but comparatively densely clustered round the larger end, where they form a rather conspicuous though irregular and imperfect zone, apparent enough in all, but much more strongly marked in one egg than in the others.

In some eggs the markings are all rather bright red and dull purplish grey; some have a very fair amount of gloss, and a very pure china-white ground.

The eggs vary in length from 0·65 to 0·71, and in breadth from 0·5 to 0·53.

177. Mixornis gularis (Raffl.). _The Sumatran Yellow-breasted Babbler_.

Mixornis gularis (_Horsf._), _Hume, cat._ no. 395 bis.

The eggs[A] are very similar to those of _M. rubricapillus_, but are, perhaps, as a rule, better marked. They are very regular ovals, typically rather slightly elongated, often slightly compressed towards the small end; the shell is very fine and fragile, and has usually a fair amount of gloss. The ground is usually pure white, at times with a pinkish tinge. Round the large end is a more or less conspicuous, more or less continuous zone of specks, spots, and small irregular blotches of two colours, the one varying in different eggs from almost brick-red to brownish orange, the other from reddish purple to purplish grey. In some cases a very few, in others a good many, specks and tiny spots of the same colours are scattered about the other portions of the egg. The eggs measure 0·7 by 0·51.

[Footnote A: I cannot find any note about the nest of this species. Mr. Davison was probably the finder of the eggs described.--ED.]

178. Schoeniparus dubius (Hume). _Hume's Tit-Babbler_.

Proparus dubius, _Hume; Hume, cat._ no. 622 bis.

Mr. W. Davison has furnished me with the following note:--"On the 21st of February I took a nest of this species on Muleyit mountain containing two eggs, and out of the female which I shot off the nest I took another egg ready for expulsion which was in every particular precisely similar to those in the nest.

"The nest was a large globular structure, composed externally of dried reed-leaves, very loosely put together, the egg-cavity deep and lined with fibres. It was placed on the ground close to a rock, and at the foot of a Zingiberaceous plant, and rather exposed to view. The nest was not unlike that of _Pomatorhinus_, but of course considerably smaller, not so much domed, and with the mouth of the egg-cavity pointing upwards.

"A few days later, on the 25th, I took a second nest, quite similar in shape and materials to the first one, but placed several feet above the ground, in a dense mass of creepers growing over a rock. It was quite exposed to view, and from a distance of 3 or 4 feet the eggs were quite visible.

"There were three eggs in the nest, similar to those in the first nest. Both parent birds were obtained. The first nest measured 5 inches long by 4·5 wide, the egg-cavity 3·8 deep by 2·75 wide at the entrance. The other was about half an inch smaller each way.

"The measurements of the six eggs varied from 0·76 to 0·81 in length by 0·56 to 0·6 in width, but the average was 0·78 by 0·59."

The eggs are rather narrow ovals, as a rule, occasionally much pointed towards one end. The shell is very fine and has a faint gloss. The ground-colour is white. The markings, which are difficult to describe, consist first of spots, specks, and hair-line scratches, dark brown, almost black occasionally, and a great amount of irregular clouding, streaking, and smudging of a pale dirty-brown, slightly reddish in some eggs. Besides this, about the large end there is an indistinct irregular zone of faint inky purple spots and small blotches, and a few spots of this same colour may be observed on other parts of the egg.

182. Sittiparus castaneiceps (Hodgs.). _The Chestnut-headed Tit-Babbler_.

Minla castaneiceps, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 255; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 619.

Mr. Hodgson's notes inform us that the Chestnut-headed Tit-Babbler breeds in the neighbourhood of Darjeeling in May and June, laying four eggs, which are figured as somewhat elongated ovals, having a very pale greenish-yellow or dingy yellowish-white ground finely speckled, chiefly at the large end, where there is a tendency to form a zone, with red or brownish red, and measuring 0·75 by 0·52. The nest is said to be placed in a thick bush, at a height of about 3 feet from the ground, in a double fork; to be very broad and shallow, composed of twigs, grass, and moss, and lined with leaves. One, taken on the 18th May, 1846, measured 6 inches in diameter and 2·5 in height externally; the cavity was only 2·1 in diameter and 1 in depth.

From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"A nest of this bird, with one fresh egg and female, was brought to me in May. The man said he found the nest in the Rungbee forest, at 6000 feet, among the moss growing on the trunk of a large tree, a few feet from the ground. It was a solid cup, made of green moss, with an inner layer of fine dark-coloured roots, and lined with grassy fibres. Externally it measured 4 inches in width by the same in depth; internally 1·5 wide by 1·25 deep."

Three eggs sent by Mr. Gammie measure 0·7 to 0·75 in length and 0·55 to 0·59 in breadth.

Mr. Davison says:--"On the 20th of February, when encamped just under the summit of Muleyit, on its N.W. slope, I found a nest of this bird containing three eggs, but so hard-set that it was only with the greatest difficulty that I managed to preserve them.

"The nest, a deep cup, was placed about 5 feet from the ground, in a mass of creepers growing up a sapling. It (the nest) was composed externally of green moss and lined with fibres and dry bamboo-leaves.

"On the 29th of the same month I took another nest, also containing three eggs, precisely similar to those in the first nest; but these were so far incubated and the shell was so fragile that they were all lost. This nest was also composed externally of green moss, beautifully worked into the moss growing on the trunk of a large tree, and it was only with considerable difficulty, and after looking for some time, that I found it. The egg-cavity of this nest was also lined with fibres and dried bamboo-leaves.

"The first nest found was open at the top, and measured 5·5 inches in depth, 3 across the top externally, the egg-cavity 3·5 in depth by 1·8 in diameter at top.

"The second nest was completely domed at the top, and measured externally 7 inches in depth by about 3·5 at top. The egg-cavity was 2·5 inches deep by 1·5 across the mouth.

"Three eggs measured 0·7 to 0·75 in length, and 0·55 to 0·59 in breadth."

The eggs are broad ovals, a little pointed towards the small end, the shell white, almost devoid of gloss. A dense ring or zone of excessively small black spots surrounds the large end, and similar specks are rather sparsely distributed over the whole of the rest of the surface of the egg, having, however, a tendency to become obsolete towards the small end. Sometimes a little brown and sometimes a little lilac is intermingled in the zone.

183. Proparus vinipectus (Hodgs.). _The Plain-brown Tit-Babbler_.

Proparus vinipectus (_Hodgs._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 257; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 622.

The Plain-brown Tit-Babbler is not uncommon in the higher wooded hills between Simla and Kotegurh, and from somewhere near Mutiana Captain Blair sent me a nest and egg, together with one of the old birds which had been caught on the nest.

This latter was a rather compact massive cap, composed of moderately fine blades of grass, measuring externally about 4¼ inches in diameter and standing about 2¼ inches high. The egg-cavity, about 2 inches in diameter and rather in more than half an inch deep, was lined with fine blackish-brown grass-roots. Neither nest nor egg is exactly what I should have expected to pertain to this species; but Captain Blair was certain that they belonged to the parent bird which he sent with them, and I therefore describe both with entire confidence in their authenticity.

The egg is a moderately elongated oval, slightly compressed towards one end; it has a pale-green ground, and near the large end has a strongly marked but very irregular sepia-brown zone, and pale stains of the same colour here and there running down the egg from the zone, as well as a few isolated dark spots of the same tint. Although much smaller, and although the colour of the markings is very different, the ground-colour and the character of the markings much recall those of _Liothrix luteus_. The egg has little or no gloss, and measures 0·73 by 0·55.

Mr. Mandelli obtained two nests of this species--one at Sinchal, near Darjeeling, at an elevation of 9000 feet, on the 2nd June; the other at Tongloo, at an elevation of 10,000 feet, on the 29th May. The first contained one, the second three fresh eggs, all precisely similar in size and colour to the egg formerly sent me by Capt. Blair, though the nests themselves were rather different in appearance. These nests were both placed amongst the branches of dense brushwood, at heights of 3 and 4 feet from the ground; they are very compact, massive little cups, about 3·25 inches in diameter and 2 in height exteriorly; the cavities are about 2 inches in diameter and 1·25 in depth. The chief materials of the nests are dry blades of grass and bamboo-leaves; but these are only seen at the bottom of the nests, the sides and upper margins being completely felted over with green moss. Apparently there is a first lining of fine grass and roots; but very little of this is seen, as the cavity is then thickly covered with black and white hairs.

184. Lioparus chrysaeus (Hodgs.). _The Golden-breasted Tit-Babbler_.

Proparus chrysaeus, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 256; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 621.

The Golden-breasted Tit-Babbler breeds, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes, near Darjeeling and in the central region of Nepal. It lays from three to four eggs, which are figured as somewhat broad ovals, measuring from 0·7 by 0·5, with a pinky-white ground, speckled and spotted thinly, except towards the large end, where there is a tendency to form a cap or zone, with brownish red. The nest is oval or rather egg-shaped, and fixed with its longer diameter perpendicular to the ground in a bamboo-clump between a dozen or so of the small lateral shoots, at an elevation of only a few feet from the ground. One, taken near Darjeeling on the 12th June, measured externally 6 inches in height, 4·5 in breadth, and 3 inches in depth, and on one side it had an oval aperture 2·5 in height and 1·75 in breadth. It appeared to have been entirely composed of dry bamboo-leaves and broad blades of grass loosely interwoven, and with a little grass and moss-roots as lining.

Hodgson originally named this bird _Proparus chrysotis_, but as the bird has _silvery_ ears Hodgson himself rejected this name and adopted the one given above. Mr. Gray, however, retains the specific name _chrysotis_. Now, I think a man has a perfect right to change his _own_ name; what I object to is other people presuming to do it for him.

Subfamily BRACHYPTERYGINAE.

187. Myiophoneus temmincki, Vigors. _The Himalayan Whistling Thrush_.

Myiophonus temminckii, _Vig., Jerd. B. Ind._ i. p. 500: _Hume. Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 343.

The Himalayan Whistling-Thrush breeds throughout the Himalayas from Assam to Afghanistan, in shady ravines and wooded glens, as a rule, from an elevation of 2000 to 5000 feet, but, at times, especially far into the interior of the hills, up to even 10,000 feet.

It lays during the last week of April, May, and June. The number of eggs varies from three to five.

The nest is almost invariably placed in the closest proximity to some mountain-stream, on the rocks and boulders of which the male so loves to warble; sometimes on a mossy bank; sometimes in some rocky crevice hidden amongst drooping maiden-hair; sometimes on some stream-encircled slab, exposed to view from all sides, and not unfrequently curtained in by the babbling waters of some little waterfall behind which it has been constructed. The nest is always admirably adapted to surrounding conditions. Safety is always sought either in inaccessibility or concealment. Built on a rock in the midst of a roaring torrent, not the smallest attempt at concealment is made; the nest lies open to the gaze of every living thing, and the materials are not even so chosen as to harmonize with the colour of the site. But if an easily accessible sloping mossy bank, ever bejewelled with the spray of some little cascade, be the spot selected, the nest is so worked into and coated with moss as to be absolutely invisible if looked at from below, and the place is usually so chosen that it cannot well be looked at, at all closely, from above.

Captain Unwin sent me an unusually beautiful specimen of the nest of this species, taken early in May in the Agrore Valley--a massive and perfect cup, with a cavity of 5 inches in diameter and 3 inches deep; the sides fully 2 inches thick; an almost solid mass of fine roots (the finest towards the interior) externally intermingled with moss, so as to form, to all appearance, an integral portion of the mossy bank on which it was placed. In the bottom of the nest were interwoven a number of dead leaves, and the whole interior was thinly lined with very fine grass-roots and moss. In this case the nest had been placed on a tiny natural platform and was a complete cup; but in another nest, also sent by Captain Unwin, the cup, having been placed on the slope of a bank, wanted (and this is the more common type) the inner one-third altogether, the place of which was supplied by the bank-moss _in situ_. In this case, although the cavity was only of the same size as that above described, the outer face of the nest was fully 6 inches high, and the wall of the nest between 3 and 3½ inches thick. The former contained three much incubated, the latter four nearly fresh eggs.

A nest from Darjeeling which was taken on the 28th July, at an elevation of about 3500 feet, from under a rock which partly overhung a stream, and contained two fresh eggs, was composed in almost equal proportions of fine moss-roots and dead leaves with scarcely a trace of moss. In this case the nest was entirely concealed from view, and no necessity, therefore, existed for coating it externally with green moss to prevent its attracting attention.

Dr. Jerdon remarks:--"I have had its nest and eggs brought me (at Darjeeling); the nest is a solid mass of moss, mixed with earth and roots, of large size, and placed (as I was informed) under an overhanging rock near a mountain-stream. The eggs were three in number, and dull green, thickly overlaid with reddish specks."