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
Long ago Captain Cock, writing from Dhurmsala, said:--"I took a
nest on the 8th of May, containing four eggs. The eggs are regular,
roundish ovals, somewhat pointed towards one end. The ground-colour is
white, here and there suffused with a faint pinkish tinge, and it is
spotted and blotched with purplish red and pale lilac, most of the
spots being gathered into an irregular zone about the large end."
Colonel C.H.T. Marshall, writing from Murree, says:--"Breeds in May,
in almost inaccessible places, about 7000 feet up, choosing a thin
fork at the outermost end of a bough about 50 or 60 feet from the
ground, and always on trees that have no lower branches. The nest is
almost invisible from below, as it is very neatly built on the top of
the fork; and when the female sits on it, she places her tail down the
bough so as entirely to hide herself. The eggs are only to be obtained
either by climbing higher up the tree than the nest is, and extracting
the eggs by means of a small muslin bag at the end of a long stick, or
else by lashing the bough on which the nest is to an upper bough as
the climber goes along so as to make it strong enough to support him.
The nest is much neater than that of _D. ater_; the eggs are light
salmon-coloured, with brick-red blotches sparsely scattered over them,
and are ·95 by ·7 inch."
Dr. Scully records the following note from Nepal:--"This species lays
in the valley in May and June, the nest being placed high up in trees,
often in _Pinus longifolia_. The eggs are usually four in number,
fairly glossy, in shape moderate ovals, smaller at one end. The
ground-colour is pinkish white, with a tinge of buff, sparingly
spotted and blotched with brownish red, chiefly at the large end,
where the marks tend to coalesce, so as to form an irregular
incomplete ring. Four eggs taken on the 28th May measured 1·09 to 1·12
in length, and 0·75 to 0·76 in breadth. The race which I identify with
_D. himalayanus_ was found, in very small numbers, on the summit of
Sheopuri, at an elevation of about 7500 feet, and was breeding at the
time I shot my specimen, viz. the 20th May."
Mr. Gammie found a nest at Mongpho, near Darjeeling, at an elevation
of about 3500 feet on the 13th May. It was placed on an outer branch
of a tall tree and contained only one partially incubated egg. The
nest was a beautifully compact, but shallow cup, placed on the upper
surface of the bough, composed externally of roots and coated with a
little lichen and a great deal of cobweb. Interiorly lined with the
finest grass and moss-roots. The cavity measured about 3 inches in
diameter and scarcely more than 1 inch in depth. At the bottom, where
it rested on the bough, the nest was not above ¼ inch thick, and
consisted only of the lining materials. Laterally it was about ¾ inch
thick.
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