The Jobraj, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes and figures, begins to
lay in Nepal in April. It builds a large shallow nest, 8 or 9 inches
in diameter externally, with the cavity of about half that diameter,
attached, as a rule, to the slender branches of some horizontal fork,
between which it is suspended much like that of an Oriole, though much
shallower than this latter; it is composed of small twigs, fine roots,
and grass-stems bound together, and it is attached to the branches by
vegetable fibre, and more or less coated with cobwebs; little pieces
of lichen and moss are also blended in the nest. It lays three or four
eggs, rather pyriform in shape, measuring 1·25 by 0·86 inch, with a
whitish or pinky-whitish ground, speckled and spotted pretty well all
over, but most densely towards the large end, with reddish pink.
From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took two nests of the Hair-crested
Drongo this year in June, both at about an elevation of 1500 feet in
wooded valleys, placed well up in the outer branches of tall, slender
trees; they are of a broad saucer-shape, openly but firmly made of
roots and stems of slender climbers, and destitute of lining. There
is a good deal of cobweb on the outsides of the nests, and they were
attached to the supporting branches by the same material. One was
fixed in among several upright sprays, the other suspended in a
slender fork after the manner of an Oriole. They measured about 6
inches broad by 2¼ deep externally, internally 4 by 1¾. One nest
contained four fresh eggs, the other three partially-incubated eggs."
Mr. Oates, writing from Pegu, says:--"In the first week of May I took
several nests of this bird, but in all cases the nests were situated
in such dangerous places that most of the eggs got broken; there were
three in each nest. The position of the nest and the nest itself are
very much like those of _D. paradiseus_. Comparing many nests of both
species together, the only difference appears to be that the nests of
the Hair-crested Drongo are slightly larger on the whole.
"The only two eggs saved measure 1·10 by ·8 and 1·11 by ·81; they are
slightly glossy, dull white, minutely and thickly freckled and spotted
with reddish brown and pale underlying marks of neutral tint.
"I may add that at the commencement of May all the eggs were much
incubated."
Major C.T. Bingham remarks:--"During the breeding season in the end
of March and in April I saw a great number of nests round and about
Meeawuddy in Tenasserim, but all inaccessible, as they were invariably
built out at the very end of the thinnest branches of eng, teak,
thingan (_Hopea odorata_), and other trees.
"Except during those two months, I have not seen the bird plentiful
anywhere."
Mr. J.R. Cripps has written the following valuable notes regarding
the breeding of the Hair-crested Drongo in the Dibrugarh district in
Assam:--