Stachyris pyrrhops, _Hodgs. Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 21; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 392.
Accounts differ somewhat as to the eggs of the Red-billed Babbler.
From Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall writes:--"Nest found in low
ground, about 100 yards from the River Jheelum, situated in a low
bush, externally composed of broad dry reed-leaves, and interiorly of
fine grass, cup-shaped. Eggs, four in number, long oval, white, with a
few reddish specks at the larger end. Length ·7, breadth ·5. Lays in
the latter end of June, 4000 feet up."
The nest, which he kindly sent me, is a deep cup, coarsely made
interiorly of grass-stems, externally of broad blades of grass,
in which a few dead leaves are incorporated; there is no lining.
Exteriorly the nest is about 3·5 inches in diameter, and about 3 in
depth; the egg-cavity is a little more than 2 inches in diameter, and
fully 1·75 in depth.
Mr. Hodgson "found the nest" of this species in Nepal, "at an
elevation of about 6000 feet, in shrubby upland." It was "placed in a
small shrub about 2 feet from the ground." It was "a very deep cup,
about 4 inches in length, and 2·5 in diameter externally, placed
obliquely endwise upon cross-stems of the shrub, and opening, as it
were obliquely, upwards at one end," the cavity being about 1·5 in
diameter. The nest was made of "dry leaves and grass pretty compactly
woven." The nest "contained four eggs," which are described as
"whitish, with spare and faint fawn-coloured spots," and are figured
as measuring 0·65 by 0·47.
Captain Hutton says:--"This is a common species both in the Dhoon
and in the hills, and may be found at all seasons, making known its
presence among the brushwood by the utterance of a clear and musical
note like the ringing of a tiny bell. In the winter time it is often
mixed up with flocks composed of _Siva strigula_ and _Liothriae
luteus_, creeping among the bushes like the _Pari_ and _Phylloscopi_.
It constructs its nest at the base of bushes, the eggs being three
in number, of a faint greenish grey, thickly irrorated with small
reddish-brown specks. The nest is composed of dry grass-blades
externally, within which is a layer of fine woody stalks and fibres,
and lined with black hair. It is cup-shaped, and placed upon a thick
bed of dried leaves, which are most probably accumulated beneath the
bush by the wind. One nest was taken at Dehra, in a garden, on the
30th July, and others at Mussoorie about the same time."
But the eggs sent by Captain Hutton clearly do not, I think, pertain
to this species. Those taken by Colonel Marshall are certainly
genuine, and are considerably larger and very differently coloured
eggs.
In shape they are moderately broad ovals, some of them slightly
compressed towards the small end. The shell is very fine and smooth,
but with scarcely any gloss; the ground is pure white, and they are
thinly speckled and spotted, the markings being much more numerous
about the large end, where they have a tendency to form an ill-defined
cap or zone with brownish red or pinky brown.
In length they vary from 0·62 to 0·69, and in breadth from 0·5 to
0·52.