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. H.R.P. Carter says:--"At Coonoor on the Nilghiris I have found
the nests from the 13th March to the 22nd April, but I believe
they commence laying in February. They are generally placed in
coffee-bushes and low shrubs, as a rule in a fork, but I have
frequently found them suspended between the twigs of a bush which had
no fork. I have also found the nest of this bird in the thatch of the
eaves of a deserted bungalow, and in tufts of grass on the edge of a
cutting overhanging the public road.
"The nest is cup-shaped, rather loosely constructed outside, but
closely and neatly finished inside. The outside is nearly always
fern-leaves at the bottom, coarse grass and fibres above, and lined
inside either with fine fibres or fine grass.
"I have never found more than two eggs, and I have taken great numbers
of nests; but I am told that three in a nest is not uncommon."
Writing from Kotagherry, Miss Cockburn says:--"Our Red-whiskered
Bulbul builds a cup-shaped nest in any thick bush. The foundation is
generally laid with pieces of dry leaves and fern, after which small
sticks are added, and the whole neatly finished with a lining of fine
grass. They lay two (sometimes three) very prettily spotted eggs of
different shades of red and white, which are found in February, March,
and April."
Mr. Wait remarks:--"This bird breeds at Coonoor from February to June.
It builds usually in isolated bushes and shrubs, in gardens and
open jungle. The nest is cup-shaped, loosely but strongly built of
grass-bents, rooty fibres, and thin stalks, and is lined with finer
grass-stems and roots. I think the internal diameter averages about 2½
inches, and about an inch in depth; but they vary a good deal in size.
They lay two or three eggs, rarely four; and the eggs vary a good
deal in shape and size, being sometimes very round and sometimes
comparatively long ovals. The birds swarm on oar coffee estates, and
breed freely in the coffee-bushes."
Dr. Jerdon says:--"I have frequently had its nest and eggs brought me
on the Nilghiris. The nest was very neatly made, deep, cup-shaped, of
moss, lichens, and small roots, lined with hair and down. The eggs are
barely distinguishable from those of the next bird (_M. bengalensis_),
being reddish white with spots of purplish or lake-red all over,
larger at the thick end."
But Dr. Jerdon rarely took nests with his own hand, and in this case
clearly wrong nests must have been brought to him.
From Trevandrum Mr. F. Bourdillon says:--"It lays three or four eggs
of a pale pink colour, with purple spots, in a nest of roots, lined
with finer roots and interwoven with the leaves of a jungle-shrub
gathered green. The nest, 3 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep, is
generally situated in a bush 4 to 5 feet from the ground."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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