the birds proceed to collect material. Each completed nest contains
many yards of fibre not much thicker than stout thread. Such material
is not found in quantity in nature. The bayas have, therefore, to
manufacture it. This is easily done. The building weaver-bird betakes
itself to a clump of elephant-grass, and, perching on one of the
blades, makes a notch in another near the base. Then, grasping with
its beak the edge of this blade above the notch, the baya flies away
and thus strips off a narrow strand. Sometimes the strand adheres to
the main part of the blade at the tip so firmly that the force of the
flying baya is not sufficient to sever it. The bird then swings for a
few seconds in mid-air, suspended by the strip of leaf. Not in the
least daunted the baya makes a fresh effort and flies off, still
gripping the strand firmly. At the third, if not at the second
attempt, the thin strip is completely severed. Having secured its
prize the weaver-bird proceeds to tear off one or two more strands and
then flies with these in its bill to the nesting site, uttering cries
of delight. The fibres obtained in this manner are bound round the
branch from which the nest will hang. More strands are added to form a
stalk; when this has attained a length of several inches it is
gradually expanded in the form of an umbrella or bell. The next step
is to weave a band of grass across the mouth of the bell. In this
condition the nest is often left unfinished. Indians call such
incomplete nests _jhulas_ or swings; they assert that these are made
in order that the cocks may sit in them and sing to their mates while
these are incubating the eggs. It may be, as "Eha" suggests, that at
this stage the birds are dissatisfied with the balance of the nest and
for this reason leave it. If the nest, at this point of its
construction, please the weaver-birds they proceed to finish it by
closing up the bell at one side of the cross-band to form a receptacle
for the eggs, and prolonging the other half of the bell into a long
tunnel or neck. This neck forms the entrance to the nest; towards its
extremity it becomes very flimsy so that it affords no foothold to an
enemy. Nearly every baya's nest contains some lumps of clay attached
to it. Jerdon was of opinion that the function of these is to balance
the nest properly. Indians state that the bird sticks fireflies into
the lumps of clay to light up the nest at night. This story has found
its way into some ornithological text-books. There is no truth in it.
The present writer is inclined to think that the object of these lumps
of clay is to prevent the light loofah-like nest swinging too
violently in a gale of wind.
Both sexes take part in nest-construction. After the formation of the
cross-bar at the mouth of the bell one of the birds sits inside and
the other outside, and they pass the strands to each other and thus
the weaving proceeds rapidly. While working at the nest the bayas,
more especially the cocks, are in a most excited state. They sing,
scream, flap their wings and snap the bill. Sometimes one cock in his
excitement attacks a neighbour by jumping on his back! This results in
a fight in which the birds flutter in the air, pecking at one another.
Often the combatants "close" for a few seconds, but neither bird seems
to get hurt in these little contests.
Every bird-lover should make a point of watching a company of
weaver-birds while these are constructing their nests. The tree or
trees in which they build can easily be located by sending a servant
in July to search for them. The favourite sites for nests in the
United Provinces seem to be babul trees that grow near borrow pits
alongside the railroad.
In the rainy season two other birds weave nests, which are nearly as
elegant as those woven by the baya. These birds, however, do not nest
in company. They usually build inside bushes, or in long grass.
For this reason they do not lend themselves to observation while at
work so readily as bayas do. The birds in question are the Indian and
the ashy wren-warbler.
The former species brings up two broods in the year. One, as has been
mentioned, in March and the other in the "rains."
The nest of the Indian wren-warbler (_Prinia inornata_) is, except for
its shape and its smaller size, very like that of a weaver-bird. It is
an elongated purse or pocket, closely and compactly woven with fine
strips of grass from 1/40 to 1/20 inch in breadth. The nest is entered
by a hole near the top. Both birds work at the nest, clinging first to
the neighbouring stems of grass or twigs, and later to the nest itself
when this has attained sufficient dimensions to afford them foothold.
They push the ends of the grass in and out just as weaver-birds do.
Like the baya, the Indian wren-warbler does not line its nest. The
eggs are pale greenish-blue, richly marked by various shades of deep
chocolate and reddish-brown. As Hume remarks: "nothing can exceed the
beauty or variety of markings, which are a combination of bold
blotches, clouds and spots, with delicate, intricately woven lines,
recalling somewhat ... those of our early favourite--the
yellow-hammer."
The ashy wren-warbler (_Prinia socialis_) builds two distinct kinds of
nest. One is just like that of the tailor-bird, being formed by sewing
or cobbling together two, three, four or five leaves, and lining the
cup thus formed with down, wool, cotton or other soft material. The
second kind of nest is a woven one. This is a hollow ball with a hole
in the side. The weaving is not so neat as that of the baya and the
Indian wren-warbler. Moreover, several kinds of material are usually
worked into the nest, which is invariably lined.
The building of two totally different types of nest is an interesting
phenomenon, and seems to indicate that under the name _Prinia
socialis_ are classed two different species, which anatomically are so
like one another that systematists are unable to separate them. Both
kinds of nests are found in the same locality and at the same time of
the year. Against the theory that there are two species of ashy
wren-warbler is the fact that there is no difference in appearance
between the eggs found in the two kinds of nest. All eggs are
brick-red or mahogany colour, without any spots or markings.
Many of the Indian cliff-swallows, of which the nests are described in
the calendar for March, bring up a second brood in the "rains."
Needless to state that in the monsoon the tank and the _jhil_ are the
happy hunting grounds of the ornithologist.
In July and August not less than thirty species of waterfowl
nidificate. Floating nests are constructed by sarus cranes, purple
coots and the jacanas. The various species of egrets breed in colonies
in trees in some village not far from a tank; in company with them
spoonbills, cormorants, snake-birds, night-herons and other birds
often nest. The white-breasted waterhen constructs its nursery in a
thicket at the margin of some village pond. The resident ducks are
also busy with their nests. These are in branches of trees, in holes
in trees or old buildings, or on the ground.
When describing the nesting operations of waterfowl in Northern India
it is difficult to apportion these between July and August, for the
eggs of almost all such species are as likely to be found in the one
month as in the other. A few individuals begin to lay in June, the
majority commence in July, but a great many defer operations until
August. There is scarcely an aquatic species of which it can be said:
"It never lays before August." Nor are there many of which it can be
asserted: "Their eggs are never found after July."
Individuals differ in their habit. A retarded monsoon means that the
water-birds begin to nest later than usual. The first fall of the
monsoon rain seems to be the signal for the commencement of nesting
operations, but by no means every pair of birds obeys the signal
immediately.
The nearest approach to a generalisation which it is possible to make
is that the egrets and paddy-birds are usually the first of the
monsoon breeders to begin nest-building, while the spot-billed duck,
the whistling teal and the bronze-winged jacana are the last. In other
words, the eggs of the former are most likely to be found in July and
those of the latter in August.
As the calendar for this month has already attained considerable
dimensions, a description of the nests of all these water-birds is
given in the August calendar. It is, however, necessary to state that
the eggs of the following birds are likely to be found in July: purple
coot, common coot, bronze-winged and pheasant-tailed jacana, black
ibis, white-necked stork, cormorant, snake-bird, cotton teal, comb
duck, spot-billed duck, spoonbill, and the various herons and egrets.
AUGUST
See! the flushed horizon flames intense
With vivid red, in rich profusion streamed
O'er heaven's pure arch. At once the clouds assume
Their gayest liveries; these with silvery beams
Fringed lovely; splendid those in liquid gold,
And speak their sovereign's state. He comes, behold!
MALLET.
The transformation scene described in July continues throughout
August. Torrential rain alternates with fierce sunshine. The earth is
verdant with all shades of green. Most conspicuous of these are the
yellowish verdure of the newly-transplanted rice, the vivid emerald of
the young plants that have taken root, the deeper hue of the growing
sugar-cane, and the dark green of the mango topes.
Unless the monsoon has been unusually late in reaching Northern India
the autumn crops are all sown before the first week in August. The
sugar-cane is now over five feet in height. The cultivators are busily
transplanting the better kinds of rice, or running the plough through
fields in which the coarser varieties are growing.
The aloes are in flower. Their white spikes of drooping tulip-like
flowers are almost the only inflorescences to be seen outside gardens
at this season of the year. The mango crop is over, but that of the
pineapples takes its place.
At night-time many of the trees are illumined by hundreds of
fireflies. These do not burn their lamps continuously. Each insect
lets its light shine for a few seconds and then suddenly puts it out.
It sometimes happens that all the fireflies in a tree show their
lights and extinguish them simultaneously and thereby produce a
luminous display which is strikingly beautiful. Fireflies are to be
seen during the greater part of the year, but they are far more
abundant in the "rains" than at any other season.
As in July so in August the voices of the birds are rarely heard after
dark. The nocturnal music is now the product of the batrachian band,
ably seconded by the crickets.
During a prolonged break in the rains the frogs and toads are hushed,
except in _jhils_ and low-lying paddy fields. Cessation of the rain,
however, does not silence the crickets.
The first streak of dawn is the signal for the striking up of the
jungle and the spotted owlets. Hard upon them follow the koels and the
brain-fever birds. These call only for a short time, remaining silent
during the greater part of the day. Other birds that lift up their
voices at early dawn are the crow-pheasant, the black partridge and
the peacock. These also call towards dusk. As soon as the sun has
risen the green barbets, coppersmiths, white-breasted kingfishers and
king-crows utter their familiar notes; even these birds are heard but
rarely in the middle of the day, nor have their voices the vigour that
characterised them in the hot weather. Occasionally the brown
rock-chat emits a few notes, but he does so in a half-hearted manner.
In the early days of August the magpie-robins sing at times; their
song, however, is no longer the brilliant performance it was. By the
end of the month it has completely died away.
The Indian cuckoo no more raises its voice in the plains, but the pied
crested-cuckoo continues to call lustily and the pied starlings make a
joyful noise. The oriole's liquid _pee-ho_ is gradually replaced by
the loud _tew_, which is its usual cry at times when it is not
nesting.
The water-birds, being busy at their nests, are of course noisy, but,
with the exception of the loud trumpeting of the sarus cranes, their
vocal efforts are heard only at the _jhil_.
The did-he-do-its, the rollers, the bee-eaters, two or three species
of warblers and the perennial singers complete the avian chorus.
Numbers of rosy starlings are returning from Asia Minor, where they
have reared up their broods. The inrush of these birds begins in July
and continues till October. They are the forerunners of the autumn
immigrants. Towards the end of the month the garganey or blue-winged
teal (_Querquedula circia_), which are the earliest of the migratory
ducks to visit India, appear on the tanks. Along with them comes the
advance-guard of the snipe. The pintail snipe (_Gallinago stenura_)
are invariably the first to appear, but they visit only the eastern
parts of Northern India. Large numbers of them sojourn in Bengal and
Assam. Stragglers appear in the eastern portion of the United
Provinces; in the western districts and in the Punjab this snipe is a
_rara avis_. By the third week in August good bags of pintail snipe
are sometimes obtained in Bengal. The fantail or full-snipe (_G.
coelestis_) is at least one week later in arriving. This species has
been shot as early as the 24th August, but there is no general
immigration of even the advance-guard until quite the end of the
month.
The jack-snipe (_G. gallinula_) seems never to appear before
September.
Most of the monsoon broods of the Indian cliff-swallow emerge from the
eggs in August. The "rains" breeding season of the amadavats or red
munias is now over, and the bird-catcher issues forth to snare them.
His stock-in-trade consists of some seed and two or three amadavats in
one of the pyramid-shaped wicker cages that can be purchased for a few
annas in any bazaar. To the base of one of the sides of the cage a
flap is attached by a hinge. The flap, which is of the same shape and
size as the side of the cage, is composed of a frame over which a
small-meshed string net is stretched. A long string is fastened to the
apex of the flap and passed through a loop at the top of the cage.
Selecting an open space near some tall grass in which amadavats are
feeding, the bird-catcher sets down the cage and loosens the string so
that the flap rests on the earth. Some seed is sprinkled on the flap.
Then the trapper squats behind a bush, holding the end of the string
in his hand. The cheerful little _lals_ inside the cage soon begin to
twitter and sing, and their calls attract the wild amadavats in the
vicinity. These come to the cage, alight on the flap, and begin to eat
the seed. The bird-catcher gives the string a sharp pull and thus
traps his victims between the flap and the side of the cage. He then
disentangles them, places them in the cage, and again sets the trap.
Almost all the birds that rear up their young in the spring have
finished nesting duties for the year by August. Here and there a pair
of belated rollers may be seen feeding their young. Before the
beginning of the month nearly all the young crows and koels have
emerged from the egg, and the great majority of them have left the
nest. Young house-crows are distinguished from adults by the
indistinctness of the grey on the neck. They continually open their
great red mouths to clamour for food.
The wire-tailed swallows, swifts, pied crested-cuckoos,
crow-pheasants, butcher-birds, cuckoo-shrikes, fantail flycatchers,
babblers, white-necked storks, wren-warblers, weaver-birds, common and
pied mynas, peafowl, and almost all the resident water-birds, waders
and swimmers, except the terns and the plovers, are likely to have
eggs or young. The nesting season of the swifts and butcher-birds is
nearly over. In the case of the others it is at its height. The
wire-tailed swallows and minivets are busy with their second broods.
The nests of most of these birds have already been described.
The Indian peafowl (_Pavo cristatus_) usually lay their large white
eggs on the ground in long grass or thick undergrowth. Sometimes they
nestle on the grass-grown roofs of deserted buildings or in other
elevated situations. Egrets, night-herons, cormorants, darters,
paddy-birds, openbills, and spoonbills build stick nests in trees.
These birds often breed in large colonies. In most cases the site
chosen is a clump of trees in a village which is situated on the
border of a tank. Sometimes all these species nest in company. Hume
described a village in Mainpuri where scores of the above-mentioned
birds, together with some whistling teal and comb-ducks, nested
simultaneously. After a site has been selected by a colony the birds
return year after year to the place for nesting purposes. The majority
of the eggs are laid in July, the young appearing towards the end of
that month or early in the present one.
The nest of the sarus crane (_Grus antigone_) is nearly always an
islet some four feet in diameter, which either floats in shallow water
or rises from the ground and projects about a foot above the level of
the water. The nest is composed of dried rushes. It may be placed in a
_jhil_, a paddy field, or a borrow pit by the railway line. A
favourite place is the midst of paddy cultivation in some low-lying
field where the water is too deep to admit of the growing of rice. Two
very large white eggs, rarely three, are laid. This species makes no
attempt to conceal its nest. In the course of a railway journey in
August numbers of incubating saruses may be seen by any person who
takes the trouble to look for them.
"Raoul" makes the extraordinary statement that incubating sarus cranes
do not sit when incubating, but hatch the eggs by standing over them,
one leg on each side of the nest! Needless to say there is no truth
whatever in this statement. The legs of the sitting sarus crane are
folded under it, as are those of incubating flamingos and other
long-legged birds.
Throughout the month of August two of the most interesting birds in
India are busy with their nests. They are the pheasant-tailed and the
bronze-winged jacana. These birds live, move and have their being on
the surface of lotus-covered tanks. Owing to the great length of their
toes jacanas are able to run about with ease over the surface of the
floating leaves of water-lilies and other aquatic plants, or over
tangled masses of rushes and water-weeds.
In the monsoon many tanks are so completely covered with vegetation
that almost the only water visible to a person standing on the bank
consists of the numerous drops that have been thrown on to the flat
surfaces of the leaves, where they glisten in the sun like pearls.
Two species of jacana occur in India: the bronze-winged (_Motopus
indicus_) and the pheasant-tailed jacana or the water-pheasant
(_Hydrophasianus chirurgus_). They are to be found on most tanks in
the well-watered parts of the United Provinces. They occur in small
flocks and are often put up by sportsmen when shooting duck. They emit
weird mewing cries. The bronze-winged jacana is a black bird with
bronze wings. It is about the size of a pigeon, but has much longer
legs. The pheasant-tailed species is a black-and-white bird. In winter
the tail is short, but in May both sexes grow long pheasant-like
caudal feathers which give the bird its popular name. The
bronze-winged jacana does not grow these long tail feathers.
The nests of jacanas are truly wonderful structures. They are just
floating pads of rushes and leaves of aquatic plants. Sometimes
practically the whole of the pad is under water, so that the eggs
appear to be resting on the surface of the tank. The nest of the
bronze-winged species is usually larger and more massive than that of
the water-pheasant. The latter's nest is sometimes so small as hardly
to be able to contain the eggs--a little, shallow, circular cup of
rushes and water-weeds or floating lotus leaves or tufts of
water-grass. The eggs of the two species show but little similarity.
Both, however, are very beautiful and remarkable. The eggs of the
bronze-winged jacana have a rich brownish-bronze background, on which
black lines are scribbled in inextricable confusion, so that the egg
looks as though Arabic texts had been scrawled over it. This species
might well be called "the Arabic writing-master." The eggs of the
water-pheasant are in shape like pegtops without the peg. They are of
a dark rich green-bronze colour, and devoid of any markings.
The nest of the handsome, but noisy, purple coot (_Porphyrio
poliocephalus_) is a platform of rushes and reeds which is sometimes
placed on the ground in a rice field, but is more often floating, and
is then tethered to a tree or some other object. From six to ten eggs
are laid. These are very beautiful objects. The ground colour is
delicate pink. This is spotted and blotched with crimson; beneath
these spots there are clouds of pale purple which have the appearance
of lying beneath the surface of the shell.
The white-breasted water-hen (_Gallinula phoenicura_) is a bird that
must be familiar to all. One pair, at least, is to be found in every
village which boasts of a tank and a bamboo clump, no matter how small
these be. The water-hen is a black bird about the size of the average
bazaar fowl, with a white face, throat and breast. It carries its
short tail almost erect, and under this is a patch of brick-red
feathers. During most seasons of the year it is a silent bird, but
from mid-May until the end of the monsoon it is exceedingly noisy,
and, were it in the habit of haunting our gardens and compounds, its
cries would attract as much attention as do those of the koel and the
brain-fever bird. As, however, water-hens are confined to tiny hamlets
situated far away from cities, many people are not acquainted with
their calls, which "Eha" describes as "roars, hiccups and cackles."
The nest is built in a bamboo clump or other dense thicket. The eggs
are stone-coloured, with spots of brown, red and purple. The young
birds, when first hatched, are covered with black down, and look like
little black ducklings. They can run, swim and dive as soon as they
leave the egg. Little parties of them are to be seen at the edge of
most village tanks in August.
The resident ducks are all busy with their nests. The majority of them
lay their eggs in July, so that in August they are occupied with their
young.
The cotton-teal (_Nettopus coromandelianus_) usually lays its eggs in
a hole in a mango or other tree. The hollow is sometimes lined with
feathers and twigs. It is not very high up as a rule, from six to
twelve feet above the ground being the usual level. The tree selected
for the nesting site is not necessarily close to water. Thirteen or
fourteen eggs seem to be the usual clutch, but as many as twenty-two
have been taken from one nest. Young teal, when they emerge from the
egg, can swim and walk, but they are unable to fly. No European seems
to have actually observed the process whereby they get from the nest
to the ground or the water. It is generally believed that the parent
birds carry them. Mr. Stuart Baker writes that a very intelligent
native once told him that, early one morning, before it was light, he
was fishing in a tank, when he saw a bird flutter heavily into the
water from a tree in front of him and some twenty paces distant. The
bird returned to the tree, and again, with much beating of the wings,
fluttered down to the surface of the tank; this performance was
repeated again and again at intervals of some minutes. At first the
native could only make out that the cause of the commotion was a bird
of some kind, but after a few minutes, he, remaining crouched among
the reeds and bushes, saw distinctly that it was a cotton-teal, and
that each time it flopped into the water and rose again it left a
gosling behind it. The young ones were carried somehow in the feet,
but the parent bird seemed to find the carriage of its offspring no
easy matter; it flew with difficulty, and fell into the water with
considerable force.
August is the month in which some fortunate observer will one year be
able to confirm or refute this story.
The comb-duck or _nukta_ (_Sarcidiornis melanotus_), which looks more
like a freak of some domesticated breed than one of nature's own
creatures, makes, in July or August, a nest of grass and sticks in a
hole in a tree or in the fork of a stout branch. Sometimes disused
nests of other species are utilised. About a dozen eggs is the usual
number of the clutch, but Anderson once found a nest containing no
fewer than forty eggs.
The lesser whistling-teal (_Dendrocygna javanica_) usually builds its
nest in a hollow in a tree. Sometimes it makes use of the deserted
nursery of another species, and there are many cases on record of the
nest being on the ground, a _bund_, or a piece of high ground in a
_jhil_. Eight or ten eggs are laid.