The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1Hume, Allan Octavian
Philosophy
The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1
Hume, Allan Octavian
Birds -- India; Birds -- Nests
Mr. Wait, writing from Conoor, says that "_Z. palpebrosa_ breeds in
April and May, building in bushes and shrubs, and making a deep round
cup-shaped nest very neatly woven in the style of the Chaffinch,
composed of moss, grass, and silk cotton, and sparsely lined with very
fine grass and hair. The eggs are two in number, of a roundish oval
shape, and a pale greenish-blue colour."
Finally Colonel Legge informs us that this species breeds in Ceylon in
June, July, and August.
The eggs are somewhat lengthened ovals (occasionally rather broader),
and a good deal pointed towards the small end. The shell is very fine
but almost glossless; here and there a somewhat more glossy egg is met
with. They are normally of a uniform very pale blue or greenish blue,
without any markings whatsoever, but once in a way an egg is seen
characterized by a cap or zone of a somewhat purer and deeper blue.
Abnormally large and small specimens are common. They vary in length
from 0·53 to 0·7, and in breadth from 0·42 to 0·58; but the average of
thirty-eight eggs is 0·62 by 0·47, and the great majority of the eggs
are really about this size.
229. Zosterops ceylonensis, Holdsworth. _The Ceylon White-eye_.
Zosterops ceylonensis, _Holdsw., Hume, cat._ no. 631 bis.
Colonel Legge, referring to the nidification of the Ceylon White-eye,
says:--"This species breeds from March until May, judging from the
young birds which are seen abroad about the latter month. Mr.
Bligh found the nest in March on Catton Estate. It was built in
a coffee-bush a few feet from the ground, and was a rather frail
structure, suspended from the arms of a small fork formed by one bare
twig crossing another. In shape it was a shallow cup, well made of
small roots and bents, lined with hair-like tendrils of moss, and was
adorned about the exterior with a few cobwebs and a little moss. The
eggs were three in number, pointed ovals, and of a pale bluish-green
ground-colour. They measured, on the average, ·64 by ·45 inch."
231. Ixulus occipitalis (Bl.) _The Chestnut-headed Ixulus_.
Ixulus occipitalis (_Bl.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 250; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 624.
A nest of this species, taken by Mr. Gammie out of a small tree below
Rungbee, at an elevation of about 3000 feet, was a small, somewhat
shallow cup, composed almost entirely of very fine moss-roots, but
with a little moss incorporated in the outer surface. Externally the
nest was about 3½ inches in diameter and 2 inches in height. The
egg-cavity was about 2¼ inches by barely 1¼ inch. This nest was found
on the 17th June and contained three hard-set eggs, _which_ were
thrown away!
232. Ixulus flavicollis (Hodgs.). _The Yellow-naped Ixulus_.
Ixulus flavicollis (_Hodgs._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p. 259; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 623.
I have never taken a nest of the Yellow-naped Ixulus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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