The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 — David Hume — John Shaqi
The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1
David Hume · en
"Of seven nests now before me four are composed externally of little
bits of green moss, cotton, and seed-down, and the silk of the wild
mulberry-moth torn from the cocoons, with which last material,
however, the others appear to be bound together within. The lining of
two is of the long hairs of the yak's tail, two of which died on the
estate where these nests were found, and a third is lined with
black human hair. The other three are formed of somewhat different
materials, two being externally composed of fine grass-stalks,
seed-down, and shreds of bark so fine as to resemble tow; one is lined
with seed-down and black fibrous lichens resembling hair, a second is
lined with fine grass, and a third with a thick coating of pure white
silky seed-down. In all the seven, the materials of the two sides are
wound round the twigs, between which they are suspended like a cradle,
and the shape is an ovate cup, about the size of half a hen's egg
split longitudinally. The diameter and depth are respectively 2 inches
and 1½ inch by three-fourths of an inch. The eggs are usually three in
number."
Mr. Brooks, writing from Almorah, says:--"This morning, 28th April,
I found a nest of _Zosterops palpebrosa_ containing two fresh eggs.
Yesterday I found one of the same bird containing three half-fledged
young ones. Near the Tonse River, in the Allahabad District, I found
these birds in July nesting high in a mango-tree, the nest suspended
like an Oriole's to several leaves; now I find it in low bushes, at
heights of from 3 to 5 feet from the ground. The eggs, as before,
skim-milk blue, without markings of any kind."
From Gurhwal Mr. R. Thompson says:--"A small cup-shaped elegant nest
is built by this bird suspended by fastenings from the fork of a low
branch. The nest is about 2½ inches in diameter and three-fourths of
an inch in depth, composed of cobwebs, fine roots, hairs, &c., neatly
interwoven and lined internally with vegetable down. The eggs, two,
three, or four in number, are of a pale whitish-blue, oval, and
somewhat larger than those of _Arachnechthra asiatica_. The birds
select all kinds of trees, but the nest is always suspended. The
breeding-season is about March and April, and the brood is quickly
hatched and fledged.
"A nest found by me on the 22nd April, and containing four eggs, was
built most ingeniously in a creeper that hung from a small tree. The
birds had arranged it so that the long down-bearing tendril of the
creeper blended with the nest, which in the main was composed of the
material surrounding it.
"Another nest found on the 26th contained three young ones. It was
built in a low branch of a large mango-tree, and might have been 12
feet from the ground. It was a neat compact structure, deeply hollow,
and made up of cobwebs, fine straw, and hair, and lined with vegetable
down, closely and neatly interwoven.