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
Two nests were sent me by Mr. Mandelli as belonging to this species,
the one found near Namtchu on the 3rd April containing four fresh
eggs, the other near Tendong on the 15th June, containing three.
Another nest which he found on the 22nd April, near the same place as
the first, contained four fresh eggs. All were placed on or very near
to the ground in brushwood and grass; all appear to have been
large, rather saucer-like nests, from 5·5 to 6·5 inches in diameter
externally, and 2·5 to 3 in height. Outside and below they are
composed chiefly of coarse grass, dead leaves, especially fern-leaves,
while interiorly they are composed of and lined with finer--in some
cases _very_ fine--grass. The cavities average, I should guess, 3·75
inches in diameter, and 1·5, or a little more perhaps, in depth.
Mr. J.R. Cripps has the following note on the breeding of this bird in
Assam:--"A nest I got was situated at the roots of a clump of bushes,
overhanging a small river. A bridge spanning this river was within ten
yards, the intervening space being open; and for such a shy bird to
have chosen such an exposed situation to build in astonished me."
From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"A nest of this Babbler taken on the
20th May much resembled that of _P. ferruginosus_, both in size and
structure. The egg-cavity had, however, a lining of at least half an
inch in thickness of soft, fibrous material extracted from the bark of
some tree, and a little fine grass for the eggs to lie on. It was on
the ground, among low jungle, in the Ryeng Valley, at 2000 feet of
elevation, and contained four eggs, two of them hatching off and
two addled. According to my experience, nests containing so large a
proportion of addled eggs are unusual."
Eggs sent by Mr. Mandelli as belonging to this species closely
resemble those of _Pomatorhinus ferruginosus_, but are somewhat
smaller; they are oval eggs a good deal pointed towards one end, pure
white, and with a high gloss. They were obtained on the 5th and 22nd
of April in the neighbourhood of Darjeeling, and measure from 0·95 to
1·04: in length, and 0·72 to 0·73 in breadth. Eggs sent by Mr. Gammie
are precisely similar.
Two other eggs of this species subsequently obtained were slightly
shorter and broader, and measured 0·95 by 0·77, and 0·98 by 0·78.
118. Pomatorhinus olivaceus, Blyth. _The Tenasserim Scimitar
Babbler_.
Pomatorhinus olivaceus, _Blyth, Hume, Cat._ no. 403 bis.