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 late Mr. A. Anderson wrote from Futtehgurh:--"On the 30th April
last (1874) I took a very beautifully and curiously constructed nest
of our Common Bulbul. In shape and size it resembled the ordinary
nest, but the curious part of it was that the upper portion of the
nest for an inch all round was composed entirely of _green twigs_ of
the neem tree on which it was built, and the under surface (below) was
felted with fresh blossoms belonging to the same tree. The green twigs
had evidently been broken off by the birds, but the flowers were
picked up from off the ground, where they were lying thick."
Colonel Butler says:--"The Madras Red-vented Bulbul breeds in the
neighbourhood of Deesa all through the hot weather and in the monsoon.
I found a nest at Mount Aboo in a garden on the 15th of April in the
middle of a pot of sweet peas, containing three fresh eggs. I
found other nests in Deesa, from the 11th May to 20th August, each
containing three eggs.
"The nest is usually built of dry grass-stems, lined with fine roots
and a few horsehairs neatly woven together. One nest I found was in a
very remarkable situation, viz. inside an uninhabited bungalow upon
the top of a door leading out of a sitting-room; the door was open and
the bolt at the top had been forced back, and it was between the top
of the door and the top of the bolt that the nest rested. The old bird
entered the building by passing first of all through the lattice-work
of the verandah, and then through a broken window-pane into the room
where the nest was built."
Mr. R.M. Adam informs us that this bird breeds at Sambhur during June
and July.
Lieut. H.E. Barnes, speaking of Rajputana in general, states that this
Bulbul breeds from April to September. Nests are occasionally found
even earlier than this, but they are exceptions to the general rule.
Major C.T. Bingham writes:--"The first nest I have a note of taking
was at Allahabad on the 2nd April. At Delhi it breeds from the end of
April to the end of July; I have, however, found most nests in May.
All have been firmly made little cups of slender twigs, sometimes dry
stems of some herbaceous plant, and lined with fine grass-roots. Five
is the usual number of eggs laid."
Mr. G.W. Vidal, writing of the South Konkan, says:--"Abundant
everywhere. Breeds in April, and again in September."
Dr. Jerdon, whose experience of this species had been gained mainly in
Madras, states that "it breeds from June to September, according to
the locality. The nest is rather neat, cup-shaped, made of roots and
grass, lined with hair, fibres, and spiders' webs[A], placed at no
great height in a shrub or hedge. The eggs are pale pinkish, with
spots of darker lake-red, most crowded at the thick end. Burgess
describes them as a rich madder colour, spotted and blotched with grey
and madder-brown: Layard as pale cream, with darker markings."
[Footnote A: This is some _lapsus pennae_. Spiders' webs are sometimes
used exteriorly never as a lining.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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