Proparus chrysaeus, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 256; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 621.
The Golden-breasted Tit-Babbler breeds, according to Mr. Hodgson's
notes, near Darjeeling and in the central region of Nepal. It lays
from three to four eggs, which are figured as somewhat broad ovals,
measuring from 0·7 by 0·5, with a pinky-white ground, speckled and
spotted thinly, except towards the large end, where there is a
tendency to form a cap or zone, with brownish red. The nest is oval or
rather egg-shaped, and fixed with its longer diameter perpendicular
to the ground in a bamboo-clump between a dozen or so of the small
lateral shoots, at an elevation of only a few feet from the ground.
One, taken near Darjeeling on the 12th June, measured externally 6
inches in height, 4·5 in breadth, and 3 inches in depth, and on one
side it had an oval aperture 2·5 in height and 1·75 in breadth. It
appeared to have been entirely composed of dry bamboo-leaves and
broad blades of grass loosely interwoven, and with a little grass and
moss-roots as lining.
Hodgson originally named this bird _Proparus chrysotis_, but as the
bird has _silvery_ ears Hodgson himself rejected this name and adopted
the one given above. Mr. Gray, however, retains the specific name
_chrysotis_. Now, I think a man has a perfect right to change his
_own_ name; what I object to is other people presuming to do it for
him.
Subfamily BRACHYPTERYGINAE.
187. Myiophoneus temmincki, Vigors. _The Himalayan Whistling
Thrush_.
Myiophonus temminckii, _Vig., Jerd. B. Ind._ i. p. 500: _Hume. Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 343.
The Himalayan Whistling-Thrush breeds throughout the Himalayas from
Assam to Afghanistan, in shady ravines and wooded glens, as a rule,
from an elevation of 2000 to 5000 feet, but, at times, especially far
into the interior of the hills, up to even 10,000 feet.
It lays during the last week of April, May, and June. The number of
eggs varies from three to five.
The nest is almost invariably placed in the closest proximity to some
mountain-stream, on the rocks and boulders of which the male so loves
to warble; sometimes on a mossy bank; sometimes in some rocky
crevice hidden amongst drooping maiden-hair; sometimes on some
stream-encircled slab, exposed to view from all sides, and not
unfrequently curtained in by the babbling waters of some little
waterfall behind which it has been constructed. The nest is always
admirably adapted to surrounding conditions. Safety is always sought
either in inaccessibility or concealment. Built on a rock in the midst
of a roaring torrent, not the smallest attempt at concealment is
made; the nest lies open to the gaze of every living thing, and the
materials are not even so chosen as to harmonize with the colour
of the site. But if an easily accessible sloping mossy bank, ever
bejewelled with the spray of some little cascade, be the spot
selected, the nest is so worked into and coated with moss as to be
absolutely invisible if looked at from below, and the place is usually
so chosen that it cannot well be looked at, at all closely, from
above.
Captain Unwin sent me an unusually beautiful specimen of the nest of
this species, taken early in May in the Agrore Valley--a massive and
perfect cup, with a cavity of 5 inches in diameter and 3 inches deep;
the sides fully 2 inches thick; an almost solid mass of fine roots
(the finest towards the interior) externally intermingled with moss,
so as to form, to all appearance, an integral portion of the mossy
bank on which it was placed. In the bottom of the nest were interwoven
a number of dead leaves, and the whole interior was thinly lined with
very fine grass-roots and moss. In this case the nest had been placed
on a tiny natural platform and was a complete cup; but in another
nest, also sent by Captain Unwin, the cup, having been placed on the
slope of a bank, wanted (and this is the more common type) the inner
one-third altogether, the place of which was supplied by the bank-moss
_in situ_. In this case, although the cavity was only of the same size
as that above described, the outer face of the nest was fully 6 inches
high, and the wall of the nest between 3 and 3½ inches thick. The
former contained three much incubated, the latter four nearly fresh
eggs.
A nest from Darjeeling which was taken on the 28th July, at an
elevation of about 3500 feet, from under a rock which partly overhung
a stream, and contained two fresh eggs, was composed in almost equal
proportions of fine moss-roots and dead leaves with scarcely a trace
of moss. In this case the nest was entirely concealed from view, and
no necessity, therefore, existed for coating it externally with green
moss to prevent its attracting attention.
Dr. Jerdon remarks:--"I have had its nest and eggs brought me (at
Darjeeling); the nest is a solid mass of moss, mixed with earth
and roots, of large size, and placed (as I was informed) under an
overhanging rock near a mountain-stream. The eggs were three in
number, and dull green, thickly overlaid with reddish specks."
"In Kumaon," writes Mr. R. Thompson, "they breed from May to July,
along all the smaller hill-streams, from 1500 up to about 4500 feet.
In the cold season it descends quite to the plains--I mean the
Sub-Himalayan plains. The nest is generally more or less circular,
5 or 6 inches in diameter, composed of moss and mud clinging to the
roots of small aquatic plants or of the moss, and lined with fine
roots and sometimes hair. A deep well-watered glen is usually chosen,
and the nest is placed in some cleft or between the ledges of some
rock, often immediately overhanging some deep gloomy pool."
"On the 16th June," observes Captain Hutton, writing from Mussoorie,
"I took two nests of this bird, each containing three eggs, and also
another nest, containing three nearly-fledged young ones. The nest
bears a strong resemblance to that of the _Geocichlae_, but is much
more solid, being composed of a thick bed of green moss externally,
lined first with long black fibrous lichens and then with fine roots.
Externally the nest is 3½ inches deep, but within only 2½ inches; the
diameter about 4¾ inches, and the thickness of the outer or exposed
side is 2 inches. The eggs are three in number, of a greenish-ashy
colour, freckled with minute roseate specks, which become confluent
and form a patch at the larger end. The elevation at which the nests
were found was from 4000 to 4500 feet; but the bird is common, except
during the breeding-season, at all elevations up to the snows, and
in the winter it extends its range down into the Doon. In the
breeding-season it is found chiefly in the glens, in the retired
depths of which it constructs its nest; it never, like the Thrushes
and _Geocichlae_, builds in trees or bushes, but selects some high,
towering, and almost inacessible rock, forming the side of a deep
glen, on the projecting ledges of which, or in the holes from which
small boulders have fallen, it constructs its nest, and where, unless
when assailed by man, it rears its young in safety, secure alike from
the howling blast and the attack of wild animals. It is known to the
natives by the name of 'Kaljet,' and to the Europeans as the 'Hill
Blackbird.' The situation in which the nest is placed is quite unlike
that of any other of our Hill-Thrushes with which I am acquainted. The
bird itself is as often found in open rocky spots on the skirts of the
forest as among the woods, loving to jump upon some stone or rocky
pinnacle, from which it sends forth a sort of choking, chattering
song, if such it can be called, or, with an up-jerk of the tail, hops
away with a loud musical whistle, very much after the manner of the
Blackbird (_M. vulgaris_)."
Sir E.C. Buck says:--"I found a nest at Huttoo, near Narkhunda, date
27th June, 1869, on an almost inaccessible crag overhanging a torrent.
It contained three eggs, but two were broken by stones falling in
climbing down to the nest. Nest not brought up; one egg secured and
forwarded. I saw the bird well, and have no doubt as to its identity."
Writing from Dhurmsalla, Captain Cock informed me that he had obtained
several nests in May in and about the neighbouring streams, up to an
elevation of some 5000 feet. From Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall
remarks:--"Several nests found in June, near running streams, about
4000 feet up."
Dr. Stoliczka tells us that "it breeds at Chini and Sungnum at an
elevation of between 9000 and 11,000 feet."
The eggs are typically of a very long oval shape, much pointed at one
end, but more or less truncated varieties (if I may use the word)
occur. They are the largest of our Indian Thrushes' eggs, and are
larger than those of any European Thrush with which I am acquainted.
Their coloration, too, is somewhat unique; a French grey,
greyish-white, or pale-greenish ground, speckled or freckled with
minute pink, pale purplish-pink, or pinkish-brown specks, in most
cases thinly, in some instances pretty thickly, in some only towards
the large end, in some pretty well all over. In the majority of
the specimens there is, besides these minute specks, a cloudy,
ill-defined, purplish-pink zone or cap at the large end. In some few
there are also a few specks of bright yellowish brown. The eggs have
scarcely any gloss.
In length, they vary from 1·24 to 1·55 inch, and in breadth from 0·95
to 1·1 inch, but the average of fifty eggs is 1·42 by about 1·0 inch.