Corvus culminatus, _Sykes, Jerd. B, Ind._ ii, p. 295,
Corvus levaillantii; _Less., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 660.
The Jungle-Crow (under which head I include[A] _C. culminatus,_
Sykes, _C. intermedius_, Adams, _C. andamanensis_, Tytler, and each
and all of the races that occur within our limits) breeds almost
everywhere in India, alike in the low country and in the hills both of
Southern and Northern India, to an elevation of fully 8000 feet.
[Footnote A: See 'Stray Feathers,' vol. ii. 1874, p. 243, and 'Lahore
to Yarkand,' p. 85.]
March to May is, I consider, the normal breeding-season; in the plains
the majority lay in April, rarely later, and in the hills in May; but
in the plains a few birds lay also in February.
The nest is placed as a rule on good-sized trees and pretty near their
summits. In the plains mangos and tamarinds seem to be preferred, but
I have found the nests on many different kinds of trees. The nest is
large, circular, and composed of moderate-sized twigs; sometimes it is
thick, massive, and compact; sometimes loose and straggling; always
with a considerable depression in the centre, which is smoothly lined
with large quantities of horsehair, or other stiff hair, grass,
grass-roots, cocoanut-fibre, &c. In the hills they use _any_ animal's
hair or fur, if the latter is pretty stiff. They do not, according to
my experience, affect luxuries in the way of soft down; it is always
something moderately stiff, of the coir or horsehair type; nothing
soft and fluffy. Coarse human hair, such as some of our native
fellow-subjects can boast of, is often taken, when it can be got, in
lieu of horsehair.
They lay four or five eggs. I have quite as often found the latter as
the former number. I have never myself seen six eggs in one nest, but
I have heard, on good authority, of six eggs being found.
Captain Unwin writes: "I found a nest of the Bow-billed Corby in the
Agrore Valley, containing four eggs, on the 30th April. It was placed
in a Cheer tree about 40 feet from the ground, and was made of sticks
and lined with dry grass and hair."
Mr. W. Theobald makes the following remarks on the breeding of this
bird in the Valley of Cashmere:--
"Lays in the third week of April. Eggs four in number, ovato-pyriform,
measuring from 1·6 to 1·7 in length and from 1·2 to 1·25 in breadth.
Colour green spotted with brown; valley generally. Nest placed in
Chinar and difficult trees."
Captain Hutton tells us that the Corby "occurs at Mussoorie throughout
the year, and is very destructive to young fowls and pigeons; it
breeds in May and June, and selects a tall tree, near a house or
village, on which to build its nest, which is composed externally of
dried sticks and twigs, and lined with grass and hair, which latter
material it will pick from the backs of horses and cows, or from
skins of animals laid out to dry. I have had skins of the Surrow
(_Noemorhaedus thar_) nearly destroyed by their depredations. The eggs
are three or four in number."
From the plains I have very few notes. I transcribe a few of my own.
"On the 11th March, near Oreyah, I found a nest of a Corby--good large
stick nest, built with tamarind twigs, and placed fully 40 feet from
the ground in the fork of a mango-tree standing by itself. The nest
measured quite 18 inches in diameter and five in thickness. It was a
nearly flat platform with a central depression 8 inches in diameter,
and not more than 2 deep, but there was a solid pad of horsehair more
than an inch thick below this. I took the mass out; it must have
weighed half a pound. Four eggs much incubated.
"_Etawah, 14th March_.--Another nest at the top of one of the huge
tamarind-trees behind the Asthul: could not get up to it. A boy
brought the nest down; it was not above a foot across, and perhaps 3
inches deep; cavity about 6 inches in diameter, thickly lined with
grass-roots, inside which again was a coating of horsehair perhaps a
rupee in thickness; nest swarming with vermin. Eggs five, quite fresh;
four eggs normal; one quite round, a pure pale slightly greenish
blue, with only a few very minute spots and specks of brown having a
tendency to form a feeble zone round the large end. Measures only 1·25
by 1·2. Neither in shape, size, nor colour is it like a Corby's egg;
but it is not a Koel's, or that of any of our parasitic Cuckoos, and
I have seen at home similar pale eggs of the Rook, Hooded Crow,
Carrion-Crow, and Raven.
"_Bareilly, May 10th_.--Three fresh eggs in large nest on a
mango-tree. Nest as usual, but lined with an immense quantity of
horsehair. We brought this home and weighed it; it weighed six ounces,
and horsehair is very light."