"Of this bird I have seen two nests--one containing two hard-set eggs
on April 29, 1872, situated in a hole in a tree overhanging a stream
about 20 feet from the ground; the other containing three hard-set
eggs on May 22nd, 1872, and situated on a ledge of rock in the bed
of a stream; both the nests were rather coarsely made of roots. My
brother says he has also found three other nests, two placed in holes
of trees and the other on a rocky ledge, but the nests were in every
case near to running water. The bird stays with us all the year, and
is one of our commonest species. Its clear whistle is always to be
heard the first thing in the morning before the other birds get up,
and daring the violent rains of the S.W. monsoon it seems almost the
only bird which does not lose heart at the incessant downpour. April
and May appear to be the breeding months."
Messrs. Davidson and Wenden remark:--"Scattered all over the Deccan in
suitable localities. W. got two nests, one on the Bhore Ghât on 5th
August, and one on the Thull Ghât on 17th of same month. That on the
Bhore Ghât was built on a ledge of rock some 15 feet _in_ from the
face of a railway tunnel where 30 or 40 trains daily passed within
a few feet of it. That on the Thull Ghât was in a cutting at the
_entrance_ of a tunnel, and about the same height above and from the
rails as the one on the Bhore Ghât. In both cases the eggs were
much discoloured by the smoke from engines, but on being washed, W.
observed that one of the three eggs in each nest was of a decidedly
_greenish blue_, finely speckled and splashed with pinky brown, while
the others were of the _pale salmon-pink_, as described in Mr. Hume's
Rough Draft of 'Nests and Eggs.' The male bird was sitting on one of
the nests and was shot. W. saw numerous other nests, some high up on
cliffs, beyond the reach of a 15-foot ladder. Two nests in holes in
trees were reported to him, but he could not go to examine them. The
nests were about 4 inches diameter by 2½ inches deep inside and 8
to 10 inches broad outside, and not more than 10 inches high. The
foundation portion contained a great deal of clay and earth, which
seemed to be necessary to secure the nests in positions so exposed
to the heavy gusts of wind which prevail on these ghâts during the
monsoon."
Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says:--"I found the
nest of this Thrush on the Seeghoor Ghaut of the Neilgherries. Mr.
Davison was with me at the time; and the nest being built on an open
ledge of rock, we both sighted it at the same moment; and I having
managed to make better use of my legs than my friend, was fortunate
enough to secure it, and one egg, which was of a pale flesh-colour,
with a few faint spots and blotches of claret towards the larger end.
The nest was made of leaves and moss mixed with clay, and lined with
fine roots. The dimensions of the egg are 1·3 inch in length by ·85
in breadth. It was in May that I found this egg; but the nest had
evidently been deserted for some time; for the egg has a hole in its
side, through which the contents had escaped or been sucked by a snake
or some animal."
Dr. Jerdon says:--"I once procured its nest, placed under a shelf of
a rock on the Burliar stream, on the slope of the Nilghiris. It was a
large structure of roots, mixed with earth, moss, &c., and contained
three eggs of a pale salmon or reddish-fawn colour, with many smallish
brown spots;" and such is unquestionably the usual situation of the
nest.
The eggs of this species, which I have received from Kotagherry
and other parts of the Nilghiris, are broad, nearly regular ovals,
slightly compressed towards the lesser end; considerably elongated,
and more or less spherical, and pyriform varieties occur. The shell is
fine, and has a slight gloss; the ground-colour is pale salmon-pink
or pinkish-white, occasionally greyish white. The whole egg is, as a
rule, finely speckled, spotted, and splashed with pinkish brown or
brownish pink. The markings, in most eggs, everywhere very fine, are
often considerably more dense at the large end, where they are not
unusually more or less underlaid by a pinkish cloud, with which they
form an irregular ill-defined and inconspicuous cap.
At times more boldly and richly marked eggs are met with; one now
before me is everywhere thickly streaked with dull pink, in places
purplish, and over this is thinly but rather conspicuously spotted and
irregularly blotched (the blotches being small however) with light
burnt sienna-brown.
In length they vary from 1·18 to 1·48 inch, and in breadth from 0·92
to 1 inch.