Garrulus lanceolatus, _Vig., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 308; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 670.
The Black-throated Jay breeds throughout the Himalayas, at elevations
of from 4000 to 8000 feet, from the Valley of Nepal to Murree.
They lay from the middle of April until the middle of June.
They build on trees or thick bushes, never at any great height from
the ground, and often within reach of the hand. They always, I think,
choose a densely foliaged tree, and place the nest sometimes in a main
fork and sometimes on some horizontal bough supported by one or more
upright shoots.
All the nests I have seen were moderately shallow cups, built with
slender twigs and sticks, some 6 inches in external diameter, and from
less than 3 inches to nearly 4 inches in height, with a nest-cavity
some 4 inches across and 2 inches deep, lined with grass and
moss-roots. Once only I found a nest almost entirely composed of
grass, and with no lining but fine grass-stems.
The eggs vary from four to six, but this latter number is rarely met
with.
Colonel C.H.T. Marshall writes:--"This is one of the commonest birds
about Murree; we always found it well to the front during our rambles,
chattering about in the trees. They breed from the middle of April
till the end of June. We have taken their eggs between the 20th April
and the 16th June. They keep above 5000 feet. I never observed any in
the lower ranges. The nest is not a difficult one to find, being large
and of loose construction; from 15 to 30 feet up a medium-sized tree
close to the trunk or sometimes in a large fork. They never seem to
build in the spruce firs which abound about Murree. They are by no
means shy birds, and hop about the trees close by while their nest is
being examined. Five is the ordinary number of eggs, which differ very
much in appearance and size: the longest I have measures 1·25 and the
shortest 1·1. Some are paler, some darker; some are of a uniform pale
greenish-ash colour with a darker ring, while others are thickly
speckled and freckled with a darker shade of the same colour. Some
lack the odd ink-scratch which is so often to be seen on the larger
end, and is the most peculiar feature of the egg, while a few have it
at the thinner end.
"I should describe the average type as a long egg for its breadth;
ground-colour greenish ashy with very thick sprinklings of spots of a
darker and more greenish shade of the same colour, a ring of a darker
dull olive round the large end, on which are one or two lines that
look like a haphazard scratch from a fine steel pen."
From Dhurmsala Captain Cock wrote to me that this was "a most common
bird at Dhurmsala; appears in large flocks during the winter, and
often mixes with _Garrulus bispecularis_ and _Urocissa flavirostris_.
Pairs off about the end of April, when nidification begins. Builds a
rather rough nest of sticks, generally placed on a tall sapling oak
near the top; sometimes among the thicker branches of a pollard oak:
outer nest small twigs roughly put together; inner nest dry roots and
fibres, rather deep cup-shaped. Eggs number from four to five and vary
in shape. I have found them sometimes nearly round, but more generally
the usual shape. They vary in their colour, too, some being much
lighter than others, but most of them have a few hair-like streaks on
the larger end."
From Mussoorie Captain Hutton tells us that "the Black-throated Jay
breeds in May and June, placing the nest sometimes on the branch of a
tall oak tree (_Quercus incana_), at other times in a thick bush. It
is composed of a foundation of twigs, and lined with fine roots of
grass &c. mixed with the long black fibres of ferns and mosses, which
hang upon the forest trees, and have much the appearance of black
horse-hair. The nest is cup-shaped, rather shallow, loosely put
together, circular, and about 4½ inches in diameter. The eggs are
sometimes three, sometimes four in number, of a greenish stone-grey,
freckled, chiefly at the larger end, with dusky and a few black
hair-like streaks, which are not always present; they vary also in
the amount of dusky freckling at the larger end. The nestling bird is
devoid of the lanceolate markings on the throat."
From Nynee Tal Colonel G.F.L. Marshall writes:--"The Black-throated
Jay builds a very small cup-shaped nest of black hair-like creepers
and roots, intertwined and placed in a rough irregular casing of
twigs. A nest found on the 2nd June containing three hard-set eggs was
placed conspicuously on the top of a young oak sapling about 7 feet
high, standing alone in an open glade, in the forest on Aya Pata,
which is about 7000 feet above the sea. Another nest, found at an
elevation of about 4500 feet on the 9th June, contained two eggs; it
was placed about 10 feet from the ground in a small tree in a hedgerow
amongst cultivated fields."
Mr. Hodgson notes from Jaha Powah:--"Found five nests of this species
between 18th and 30th May. Builds near the tops of moderate-sized
trees in open districts, making a very shallow nest of thin elastic
grasses sparingly used and without lining. The nest is placed on some
horizontal branch against some upright twig, or at some horizontal
fork. It is nearly round and has a diameter of about 6 inches. They
lay three or four eggs of a sordid vernal green clouded with obscure
brown."
The eggs are somewhat lengthened ovals, very much smaller than, though
so far as coloration goes very similar to, those of _G. glandarius_.
The ground-colour in some is a brown stone colour, in others pale
greenish white, and intermediate shades occur, and they are very
minutely and feebly freckled and mottled over the whole surface with a
somewhat pale sepia-brown. This mottling differs much in intensity; in
some few eggs indeed it is absolutely wanting, while in others, though
feeble elsewhere, it forms a distinct, though undefined, brownish cap
or zone at the large end. The eggs generally have little or no gloss.
It is not uncommon to find a few hair-like dark brown lines, more or
less zigzag, about the larger end.
In length they vary from 1·03 to 1·23, and in breadth from 0·78 to
0·88; but the average of twenty-four eggs is 1·12 by 0·85.