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. Davison tells me that "this species breeds from April to about the
middle of June. The nest is generally placed from 12 to 20 feet from
the ground, in some dense clump of leaves; favourite sites are the
bunches of parasitic plants with which nearly every acacia, and in
fact nearly every other tree about Ootacamund, is covered. The nest is
composed exteriorly of moss, dry leaves, and roots, lined with roots
and fibres: the normal number of eggs is two; they are white with
claret-coloured and purplish spots."
A nest of this species taken at Coonoor on the 14th March, 1869,
by Mr. Carter, to whom I owe this and many other nests from the
Nilghiris, reminds one much of those of the Red-cheeked Bulbuls.
A wisp of dry grass and dead leaves, with the dead leaves greatly
predominating exteriorly, twisted into a shallow cup, some 4½ inches
in diameter externally, and with a shallow depression tolerably neatly
lined with finer grass-stems measuring some 3 inches across and
perhaps an inch in depth. The bottom of the nest is almost exclusively
composed of dead leaves; while even in the sides, externally, little
but these are visible, only a few grass-stems crossing in and out,
here and there, sufficiently to keep the leaves in their places.
Mr. Wait remarks, writing from Coonoor:--"Our Black Bulbul breeds from
March to June. It builds a cup-shaped nest neatly and firmly made.
Outside, the nest is chiefly composed, as a rule, of green moss,
grass-stalks, and fibres, while inside it is lined with fine stalks
and hair. The cavity is from 2·5 to 3 inches in diameter and about
half that depth. Two is certainly the normal number of eggs; indeed, I
have never found more."
Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says in 'The
Ibis':--"It breeds in lofty trees in the Nilghiris, building a shallow
cup-shaped nest, from 20 to 60 feet from the ground. The nest is
constructed of the dried stems of the wild forget-me-not, and lined
with a moss much resembling black horsehair. The eggs, which are two
in number, are pretty thickly spotted with pale lilac and claret on
a light pink ground-colour. I found these birds migrating in vast
flights, numbering several thousands, in the Bolumputty valley in
July. They were flying westwards towards Malabar."
Mr. Darling, Junior, writes:--"I have taken the eggs of this Black
Bulbul every year from 1863 to 1870 during March, April, May, and part
of June, all over the Nilghiris. The nests were all made of moss, dry
leaves, and roots, lined with roots and fibres. I have only once found
three eggs (the normal number being two): in this case the eggs are
very much smaller than usual, and more blotched with the reddish
spots. I have found them at all heights from the ground up to 30 feet,
and mostly in rhododendron trees. I found two nests in S. Wynaad, at
an elevation of about 4000 feet, both with young, in June 1873."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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