Alcippe atriceps (_Jerd._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 19; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 390.
Writing from Coonoor in the Nilghiris, Mr. Wait tells me that
the Black-headed Babbler breeds in his neighbourhood in June and
July:--"It builds in weeds and grass beside the banks of old roads, at
elevations of from 5000 to 5500 feet. The nest is placed at a height
of from a foot to 2 feet from the ground, is domed and loosely built,
composed almost entirely of dry blades of the lemon-grass, and lined
with the same or a few softer grass-blades. In shape it is more or
less ovate, the longer axis vertical, and the external diameters 4 and
8 inches. They lay two or three rather broad oval eggs, which have a
white ground, speckled and spotted, chiefly at the large end, with
reddish brown."
Miss Cockburn sends me a nest of this species which she found on the
17th June amongst reeds on the edge of a stream, about 2 or 3 feet
above the water's edge. It appears to have been a globular mass very
loosely put together, of broad reed-leaves, between 3 or 4 inches in
diameter, and with a central unlined cavity.
Mr. Iver Macpherson, writing from Mysore, says:--"I have only met with
this bird in heavy bamboo-forest, and have only found two nests, viz.,
on the 25th May and 2nd July, 1879. Both nests were fixed low down (2
to 3 feet) in bamboo-clumps, and each contained two eggs, which, for
the size of the bird, I considered very large. Nest globular, and very
loosely constructed of bamboo-leaves and blades of grass."
An egg sent me from Coonoor by Mr. Wait is a moderately broad, very
regular oval, only slightly compressed towards the smaller end. The
shell is very fine and satiny, but has only a slight gloss. The
ground-colour is white or slightly greyish white, and towards the
large end it is profusely speckled with minute dots of brownish and
purplish red, a few specks of the same colour being scattered about
the rest of the surface of the eggs.
Another egg sent me from Kotagherry by Miss Cockburn exactly
corresponds with the above description.
Both are precisely the same in size, and measure 0·75 by 0·55.
Other eggs measure from 0·75 to 0·79 in length by 0·53 to 0·58 in
breadth[A].
[Footnote A: Mr. T. Fulton Bourdillon (S.F. ix, p. 300) gives
an interesting account of the nest and eggs of a species of
_Rhopocichla_, which he failed to identify satisfactorily. It may have
been _R. atriceps_ or _R. bourdilloni_. Most probably, judging from
the locality, it was the latter. As, however, there is a doubt about
it, I do not insert the note.--ED.]