Chatarrhaea earlii (_Blyth), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 68; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 439.
The Striated Babbler breeds in suitable localities throughout
Continental India, from Sindh to Tipperah and Assam, as also in
Burmah. Reedy-margined lakes, canals and perennial streams are its
favourite haunts, and wherever within the limits above indicated these
abound, and the locality is moist and warm, _A. earlii_ is pretty sure
to be met with.
They lay twice during the year, between the latter end of March and
the early part of September, building a neat, compact, and rather
massive cup-shaped nest, either between the close-growing reeds, to
three or more of which it is firmly bound, or in some little bush or
shrub more or less surrounded by high reed-grass. The broad leaves
and stringy roots of the reed, common grass, and grass-roots are the
materials of which it generally constructs its nest, which varies much
in size, according to the situation and fineness of the material used.
I have seen them composed almost wholly of reed-leaves, fully 7
inches in diameter and 5 in height, and again built entirely of fine
grass-stems not more than 4 inches across and 3 inches in height.
When semi-suspended between reeds, they are always smaller and more
compact, while when placed in a fork of a low bush they are larger
and more straggling. The cavity (always neatly finished off, but very
rarely regularly lined, and then only with very fine grass-stems or
roots) is usually about 3 inches in diameter by 2 inches in depth.
Colonel G.F.L. Marshall remarks:--"In the Saharunpoor District _A.
earlii_ commences building about the middle of March, and the young
are hatched towards the middle of April. The nest is usually placed
in the middle of a tuft of Sarkerry grass, and sometimes in a bush
or small tree, generally 3 or 4 feet from the ground. It is a deep
cup-shaped structure, rather neatly made of grass without lining, and
woven in with the stems if in a clump of grass, or firmly fixed in
a fork if in a bush or low tree. The interior diameter is about 3
inches, and the depth nearly 2 inches. The eggs, four in number, are
of a clear blue colour without spots of any kind. In shape they are
oval, rather thinner at one end; the shell is smooth and thin. The
eggs are of the same colour, but considerably larger than those of
_Argya caudata. Argya earlii_ breeds commonly in the Sub-Siwalik
District of the Doab; it seems fond of water, as most of the nests I
have found were close to the canal bank. It is gregarious even in the
breeding-season; small flocks of seven or eight keeping together,
fluttering in and out of the low bushes, but seldom alighting on the
ground, and occasionally making a noisy chattering cry, especially
when disturbed."
From the Pegu District Mr. Oates writes:--"I found two nests on the
24th May, one quite empty though finished, the other containing three
eggs.
"The nests were placed a few feet apart in an immensely thick patch of
elephant-grass, the undergrowth being fine, once tall, but now dead,
grass. It was upon this dead stuff, which in May is much flattened
down, that I found the nests. They were not attached to anything, but
simply laid in a depressed platform about a foot above the ground, in
among the thickest of the stalks of elephant-grass.
"The nest is a bulky structure, some 6 or 8 inches in external
diameter, and 4 inches in height, composed chiefly of coarse reeds,
becoming finer interiorly till the egg-cup is reached, where the
grasses employed are tolerably fine and neatly interwoven. The cavity
itself is more than a hemisphere, the diameter being 3 inches and the
depth about 2 inches.
"The eggs are of a beautiful blue colour, rather pointed at one end."
Colonel Tickell has the following note on the nidification of this
species in the Asiatic Society Journal, 1848, p. 301:--
"_Burra phenga_.--Nest hemispherical, of grasses rather loosely
interwoven; generally on bushes in jungle. Eggs two to four; rather
lengthened shape; clear, full, verditer blue.--June."
Mr. J.R. Cripps writes of this bird in Eastern Bengal:--"Very common,
and a permanent resident, keeping to grass-fields in small parties of
seven to ten. Very noisy. On the 2nd December, 1877, I found a nest
with three slightly-incubated eggs in a small babool bush which stood
in a 'sone' grass-field. The nest was a deep cup, whose foundation was
a few leaves over which sone-grass was woven rather loosely. Lining
of fine grass-roots. The nest was placed in amongst some coarse grass
which grew up in the centre of the bush, and was three feet from the
ground. External height 4, diameter 4¼, internal diameter 2½, depth
2½ inches. Both Messrs. Marshall and Hume in their works on 'Birds'
Nesting' give March and September as the two periods for these birds
to lay, but the clutch I found were exceptionally late."
Mr. J. Inglis writes from Cachar:--"The Striated Reed-Babbler is
exceedingly common during the whole year. It breeds from March
onwards, making its nest in longish grass."
The eggs closely resemble those of _A. caudata_ both in colour and
shape, but they are conspicuously larger. To judge from Hewitson's
figure, for I have never seen the egg, they in shape, size, and colour
closely resemble the eggs of _Accentor alpinus_, some I have being
very slightly larger, and others exactly the same size as the figure
referred to.
In length the eggs vary from 0·78 to 1·01, and in breadth from 0·65 to
0·75, but the average of a large series is 0·88 by 0·7.