Timelia pileata, _Horsf., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 24; _Hume, Rough Draft
N. & E._ no. 396.
Mr. Eugene Oates records that he "found the nest of this bird at
Thayetmyo on the 2nd June with young ones a few days old. The nest
was placed on the ground in the centre of a low but very thick thorny
bush."
Subsequently he wrote from Pegu, further south:--"The nest is placed
in the fork of a shrub, very near to, or quite on, the ground, and is
surrounded in every case by long grass. A nest found on the 4th July,
on which the female was sitting closely, contained three eggs slightly
incubated. The breeding-season seems to be in June and July.
"The nest is made entirely of bamboo-leaves and is lined sparingly
with fine grass. No other material enters into its composition. It
is oval, about 7 inches in height and 4 in diameter, with a large
entrance at the side, its lower edge being about the middle of the
nest.
"When the bird frequents elephant-grass, where there are no shrubs, it
builds on the ground at the edge of a clump of grass, and I have found
two nests in such a situation, only a few feet from each other.
"In looking for the nest a good deal of grass is necessarily trodden
down; the consequence is that if you do not find eggs, there is little
chance of their being laid later on. I have found some ten nests, more
or less completed, but only three eggs."
And again, later on:--"This bird would appear to have two broods a
year, for I procured two sittings of three eggs each this year in
April, former nests having been found in June and July. With many eggs
before me I find that the density of the markings varies considerably.
The size is very constant; for the length of numerous eggs varies only
from ·75 to ·72, and the breadth from ·6 to ·54 inch."
I was, I believe, myself the first to obtain the eggs of this species,
but the first of my contributors who sent me eggs, nest, and a note on
the nidification of this species was Mr. J.C. Parker. Writing to me in
September 1875, he said:--
"On the 14th August I took a nest of _Timelia pileata_ on my old
ground in the Salt Lakes. I discovered this by a mere accident, for I
happened to see a female _Prinia flaviventris_ (whose eggs I was in
quest of for you) perched on the top of a bush inland about 10 feet
from the bank of the canal, and from her movements I thought she must
have a nest near at hand.
"Accordingly I landed, although not in trim for wading through a
bog. Sure enough I was not mistaken; the _Prinia_ had a nest, but it
contained only _one_ egg. Close by, however, I saw a nest, from out of
which a bird flew, and although I did not shoot it I am quite sure it
was _Timelia pileata_. The jungle was particularly thick just about
where I stood, indeed impenetrable, and I could not follow the
bird, but I soon heard the male bird talking to his mate in that
extraordinary way which these birds have, and which once heard cannot
be mistaken.
"The nest was placed on the spikes growing from the joints of a
species of grass very thick and stiff, and forming a secure foundation
for the nest. This latter is 6 inches high and 4 inches broad.
Egg-cavity 2 inches, entrance-hole 1½ by 2. The nest itself is very
loosely put together with the dead leaves of the tiger-grass twisted
round and round, and lined roughly with coarse grass. The nest was
quite open to view and about three feet from the ground. I suppose the
birds never expected that such a wild swampy spot as they had selected
would be invaded by any oologist."
Mr. J.R. Cripps writing from Eastern Bengal says:--"Pretty common.
Permanent resident. Oftener found in the patches of cane brushwood
jungle found in and around villages than in unfrequented jungle and
thickets as Dr. Jerdon says. I have, however, once seen it in a field
of jute, which was alongside a village. Its well-known note can be
heard a long way off. I have several times found nests in course of
construction, but only once secured a clutch of eggs. When the nests
are being built, if the bush is at all disturbed the nest is deserted.
The earliest date on which I found a nest was the 1st April, 1878; it
was half finished, and as I pulled the cane-leaves asunder to see if
there were eggs, the birds deserted it. After this I found four nests
in cane-clumps on the sides of roads, but they were empty, and as the
birds abandoned them in due course I despaired of getting any eggs;
but on the 15th June, while going along a road, the edges of which
were bounded by the small embankments natives throw up round their
holdings, and which are always overgrown with 'sone' grass, I saw one
of these birds with a straw in its bill disappear at the root of a
small date-tree. The nest could be discerned from the road. On the
20th June I returned and found two fresh eggs; the nest was placed at
the junction of the frond and the stem of the date-tree about five
inches from the ground, and was an oval deep cup and measured
externally 5 inches deep by 3¾ broad. Egg-cavity 2 broad and 1¾ deep,
composed exclusively of 'sone' grass with no lining."
The eggs of this species are broad ovals with a tolerably fine gloss.
The ground-colour is pure white. The whole of the larger end of the
egg is pretty thickly speckled and spotted with brown, varying from an
olive to a burnt sienna intermingled with little spots and clouds of
pale inky purple, and similar spots and specks chiefly of the former
colour, but smaller in size, scattered thinly over the rest of the
egg. In size they vary from 0·69 to 0·75 in length, and from 0·55 to
0·6 in breadth.