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 Grass-Babbler is not uncommon about Deesa in the rains, at which
season it breeds. I found a nest containing four eggs on the 18th
August, 1876. It consisted of a round ball of dry grass with a
circular entrance on one side, near the top, was placed on the ground
in the centre of a low scrubby bush in a grass Bheerh, and when the
hen-bird flew off, which was not until I almost put my foot on the
nest, I mistook her for _Argya caudata_. On looking, however, into the
bush, I saw at once by the eggs that it was a species new to me. I
left the spot and returned again in about an hour's time, when, to my
disappointment, I found that three of the eggs had hatched. The fourth
egg being stale, I took it and added it to my collection. The eggs are
about the size of the eggs of _A. caudata_, but in colour very like
those of _Franklinia buchanani_, namely, white, speckled all over with
reddish brown and pale lavender, most densely at the large end. This
bird has a peculiar habit in the breeding-season of rising suddenly
into the air and soaring about, often for a considerable distance,
uttering a loud note resembling the words 'chirrup, chirrup-chirrup,'
repeated all the time the bird is in the air, and then suddenly
descending slowly into the grass with outspread wings, much in
the style of _Mirafra erythroptera_. This bird is so similar in
appearance, when flying and hopping about in the long grass, to _A.
caudata_, that I have no doubt it is often mistaken for that species.
I have invariably found it during the rains in grass Bheerhs overgrown
with low thorny bushes (_Zizyphus jujuba_, &c.). Whether it remains
the whole year round I cannot say; at all events, if it does, its
close resemblance to _A. caudata_ enables it to escape notice at other
seasons."
Mr. Cripps, writing from Fureedpore, says:--"Very common in long grass
fields. Permanent resident. It utters its soft notes while on the
wing, not only in the cold season but the year through; it is very
noisy during the breeding-time. Breeds in clumps of grass a few inches
above as well as on the ground. I found five nests in the month of May
from 23rd to 28th: one was on the ground in a field of indigo; the
rest were in clumps of 'sone' grass and from the same field composed
of this grass. One nest contained three half-fledged young, and the
rest had four eggs slightly incubated in each. Although they nest in
'sone' grass which is rarely over three feet in height, it is very
difficult to find the nest, as the grass generally overhangs and hides
it. Only when the bird rises almost from your feet are you able to
discover the whereabouts. On several occasions I have noticed this
species perching on bushes."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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