Dendrocitta leucogastra, _Gould, Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 317; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 678.
From Travancore Mr. Bourdillon has kindly sent me an egg and the
following note on the nidification of the Southern Tree-pie:--
"Three eggs, very hard-set, of an ashy-white colour, marked with ashy
and greenish-brown blotches, 1·12 long and 0·87 broad, were taken on
9th March, 1873, from a nest in a bush 8 or 10 feet from the ground.
The nest of twigs was built after the style of the English Magpie's
nest, minus the dome. It consisted of a large platform 6 inches deep
and 8 or 10 inches broad, supporting a nest 1½ inch deep and 3½ inches
broad. The bird is not at all uncommon on the Assamboo Hills between
the elevations of 1500 and 3000 feet above the sea, seeming to prefer
the smaller jungle and more open parts of the heavy forest."
Later he writes:--"On the 8th April I found another nest containing
three half-fledged Magpies (_D. leucogastra_). The nest was entirely
composed of twigs, roughly but securely put together; interior
diameter 3 inches and depth 2 inches, though there was a good-sized
base or platform, say, 5 inches in diameter. The nest was situated on
the top fork of a sapling about 12 feet from the ground. I tried to
rear the young birds, but they all died within a week."
The egg is very like that of our other Indian Tree-pies. It is in
shape a broad and regular oval, only slightly compressed towards one
end. The shell is fine and compact and is moderately glossy. The
ground is a creamy stone-colour. It is profusely blotched and streaked
with a somewhat pale yellowish brown, these markings being most
numerous and darkest in a broad, irregular, imperfect zone round the
large end, and it exhibits further a number of pale inky-purple clouds
and blotches, which seem to underlie the brown markings, and which are
chiefly confined to the broader half of the egg. The latter measures
1·13 by 0·86.