Trichastoma abbotti (_Bl.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 17.
Abbott's Babbler breeds throughout Burma in suitable localities.
Writing from Kyeikpadein, in Southern Pegu, Mr. Oates says:--"On the
22nd May I found a nest with two eggs nearly hatched, and on 23rd of
same month another with two eggs, one of which was fresh and the other
incubated. This bird builds in thick undergrowth, and the nest is
built at a height of about 2 feet from the ground. I have found very
many of their nests, but, with the above exceptions, the young had
flown. It is generally attached to a stout weed or two, and consists
of two portions. First, a platform of dead leaves about 6 inches in
diameter and 1 deep, placed loosely, and on this the nest proper is
built. This consists of a small cup, the interior diameter of which is
2 inches, and depth 1½. It is formed entirely of fine black fern-roots
well woven together. Stout weeds appear favourite sites, but I have
found old nests in dwarf palm-trees at the junction of the frond with
the trunk, and in one instance I found an old nest on the ground,
undoubtedly belonging to this bird. Three eggs measured ·84 by ·66,
·82 by ·67, and ·87 by ·65. They are very glossy and smooth. The
ground-colour is a pale pinkish white. At the cap there are a few
spots and short lines of inky-purple sunk into the shell, and over the
whole egg, very sparingly distributed, there are spots and irregular
fine scrawls of reddish brown. A few of the marks are neither spots
nor scrawls, but something like knots. The cap is suffused with a
darker tinge of pink than are the other parts of the shell.
"A third nest, found on the 10th June, contained three eggs, and
differed from those above described in being very massive. It was
composed of dead leaves and fern-roots, and measured about 5 inches in
exterior diameter, with the egg-cup about 2½ inches broad and 2 inches
deep. It was placed on some entangled small plants about 2 feet from
the ground. Of these eggs I noted that before being blown the shell
was of a ruddy salmon colour. The marks are much as in the others
described above."
The eggs are moderately broad ovals, somewhat pointed at times towards
the small end, and occasionally slightly pyriform. The shell is fine
and glossy; the ground-colour is pinky white, with a redder shade
about the large end. A few streaks, spots, and hieroglyphics of a deep
brownish red, each more or less surrounded by a reddish nimbus, are
scattered very thinly about the surface of the egg, while, besides
these, a few small greyish-purple subsurface-looking spots may be
observed about the larger end. The average size of the seven eggs I
possess is 0·82 by 0·64.