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
Major C.T. Bingham has the following note:--"About five miles below
the large village of Meplay, in the district of that name, the main
stream of the Meplay river is joined by a tributary, the Theedoquee.
On the 4th April I was wading across the mouth of the latter, when my
attention was attracted by seeing a pair of the above birds dart from
a small tree growing at the very point of the fork where the streams
met, and sweep down at my dog, not actually striking him, but nearly
doing so. Of course, I made for the tree, and sure enough there, about
15 feet from the ground, in a fork, was a large mass of twigs, above
which was placed a neatly made cup-shaped nest, lined with fine black
roots, and containing three fresh eggs, densely spotted, chiefly at
the larger end, with yellowish brown and sepia, on a ground-colour
of dull greenish white. The whole time the peon I had sent up was
climbing up and getting the nest, the two birds kept sweeping round
and round with harsh cries. I secured them both for the identification
of the eggs."
The eggs of this species are typically rather long ovals, generally a
good deal pointed towards the small end. They are dull eggs, and never
seem to have any perceptible gloss. The ground-colour varies from
white to a rich warm pink. The markings are of all sizes and shapes,
from large blotches to the tiniest specks, and they vary in every egg,
being thickly set in some, thinly in others, but as a rule the largest
and most conspicuous markings are about the large end. Again, in
colour the markings vary very much: they are red, purplish red,
reddish brown, pale purple, and inky grey; generally the eggs
exhibit both coloured markings reddish and lilac, but sometimes the
white-grounded eggs have only these latter. Some of the pink eggs are
strikingly handsome, and remind one of those of some of the Bulbuls.
Others are dull eggs with only a few irregular grey clouds about the
large end, thinly interspersed with brownish-red spots, usually darker
about the centre, and elsewhere excessively minutely and thinly
speckled with spots too small to render it possible to say what colour
they are.
An egg I received from Darjeeling measures 1·1 by 0·87; others
received from Mynall from Mr. Bourdillon, and the Kakencotte Forest,
Mysore, from Mr. I. Macpherson, vary in length from 1·16 to 1·1, and
in breadth from 0·84 to 0·75. Three eggs, taken in Pegu by Mr. Oates,
measure from 1·1 to 1·05 in length, by 0·83 to 0·81 in breadth, and
are smaller than those the dimensions of which he himself records
above.
Family CERTHIIDAE.
341. Certhia himalayana, Vigors. _The Himalayan Tree-Creeper_.
Certliia himalayana, _Vig., Jerd B. Ind._ i, p, 380; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 243.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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