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
The nest of _Hypsipetes psaroides_ is usually made of rather
coarse-bladed grass, with exteriorly a number of dry leaves, and more
or less moss incorporated, and lined with very fine grass-stems and
roots of moss. A good deal of spider's web is often used exteriorly to
bind the nest together, or attach it more firmly to the fork in which
it rests. Its general shape is a moderately deep cup, the cavity
measuring some 2½ inches in diameter by 1½ inch in depth. The sides,
into which leaves and moss are freely interwoven, vary from an inch to
a couple of inches in thickness. The bottom, loosely put together, is
rarely more than from a quarter to half an inch in depth. It appears
to be generally placed on the fork of a branch, at a moderate height
from the ground.
Four is the normal number of eggs, but I have more than once found
three partially incubated eggs in a nest.
From Darjeeling Mr. Gammie remarks:--"A nest of this bird, which I
took on the 17th June, at a height of nearly 50 feet from the ground,
on one of the topmost branches of a tree, contained three hard-set
eggs. This was below Rungbee, at an elevation of about 3000 feet. The
nest was a compact, moderately deep cup, composed of very fine twigs
and stems, and with a quantity of dead leaves incorporated in the
structure, especially towards its lower surface; it had no lining, but
the stems used towards the interior of the nest were somewhat finer
than the rest. Exteriorly the nest had a diameter of about 4·5 inches,
and a height of about 2·5; interiorly a diameter of about 2·5, and a
depth of nearly 1·5."
Mr. Hodgson, writing from Nepal, says:--
"_May 20th, Jaha Powah_.--Two nests on the skirts of the forest in
medium-sized trees, placed on the fork of a branch. They are made
of moss and dry fern and dry elastic twig-tops, and lined with long
elastic needles of _Pinus longifolia_. They are compact and rather
deep, half pensile, that is to say, partly slung between the branches
of the fork to which they are attached by bands of vegetable fibres.
Each contained four eggs, pinkish-white, thickly spotted with dark
sanguine." Another year he wrote:--
"_May 9th, in the Valley_.--A mature female with nest and eggs. Nest
saucer-shaped, the cavity 3·5 wide by 2·5 deep, made of slender twigs
and grass-fibres, with no lining. Eggs three, pale pink, blotched all
over with sanguine brown."
Writing from Almorah, Mr. Brooks tells us that "the nest and eggs were
found by Mr. Horne on the 27th May near Bheem Tal."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account