Grammatoptila striata (_Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii; p. 11; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 382.
The Striated Laughing-Thrush, remarks Mr. Blyth, "builds a compact
Jay-like nest. The eggs are spotless blue, as shown by one of Mr.
Hodgson's drawings in the British Museum."
A nest of this species found near Darjeeling in July was placed on the
branches of a large tree, at a height of about 12 feet.
It was a huge shallow cup, composed mainly of moss, bound together
with stems of creepers and fronds of a _Selaginella_, and lined with
coarse roots and broken pieces of dry grass. A few dead leaves were
incorporated in the body of the nest. The nest was about 8 or 9 inches
in diameter and about 2 in thickness, the broad, shallow, saucer-like
cavity being about an inch in depth.
The nest contained two nearly fresh eggs. The eggs appear to be rather
peculiarly shaped. They are moderately elongated ovals, a good deal
pinched out and pointed towards the small end, in the same manner
(though in a less degree) as those of some Plovers, Snipe, &c. I do
not know whether this is the typical shape of this egg, or whether it
is an abnormal peculiarity of the eggs of this particular nest. The
shell is fine, but the eggs have very little gloss. In colour they are
a very pale spotless blue, not much darker than those of _Zosterops
palpebrosus_.
The eggs measure 1·3 and 1·32 in length, and 0·89 and 0·92 in breadth.
From Sikhim, Mr. Gammie writes:--"In the first week of May I took a
nest of the Striated Laughing-Thrush out of a small tree growing in
the forest at 5500 feet above the sea. It was fixed among spray about
10 feet up. In shape it is a shallow, broad cup, and is built in three
layers: the outer one of twining stems, which besides holding the nest
together fastened it to the spray; the middle layer is an intermixture
of green moss and fresh fern-fronds, and the inner a thick lining of
roots. Externally it measured 7·5 inches broad by 5·25 inches deep;
internally 4 inches by 2·75 inches.
"It contained two hard-set eggs."
Several nests of this species that I have now seen have all been of
the same type, large nests 9 or 10 inches in diameter, and 4 to 5 in
height, the body of the nest composed mainly of green moss interwoven
with and bound round about with the stems of creepers and a few pliant
twigs, many of which straggle away a good deal outside the limits
which I have assigned in stating the dimensions above. The cavities
are not quite hemispherical, a little shallower, say 4·5 inches in
diameter and 2 inches in depth, closely lined with fine black roots.
They have all been placed in the branches of trees at heights of from
8 to 20 feet.
Eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie in May, and Mr. Mandelli
in July, are of precisely the same type. They are rather elongated
ovals, a good deal pointed towards the small end, near which they
are not unfrequently a good deal compressed, so as to render the egg
slightly pyriform. The shell is fine and smooth, but has little gloss.
The ground-colour is a very pale greenish blue or bluish green, in
some almost white; some of them are absolutely spotless, none of them
are at all well marked, but some bear from half a dozen to a dozen
tiny specks of a dark colour. On one only there is a triangular spot
about 0·05 each way, which proves on examination with a microscope
to be a deep brownish red. On the other eggs the markings are mere
specks.
The eggs vary from 1·25 to 1·35 in length, and from 0·89 to 0·92 in
breadth.