Pteruthius erythropterus (_Vig.) Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 245; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 609.
Writing from Murree, Colonel C.H.T. Marshall says:--"There is no
record about the nidification of this species. Its nest is exceedingly
difficult to find, and it was only by long and careful watching
through field-glasses that Captain Cock discovered that there was a
nest at the top of a very high chestnut-tree, to and from which the
birds kept flying with building-materials in their beaks. The nest is
most skilfully concealed, being at the top of the tree, with bunches
of leaves both above and below. The nest, like that of the Oriole, is
built pendent in a fork. It is somewhat roughly made of moss and hair.
The eggs are pinky white, blotched with red, forming in some a ring
round the larger end. They average 0·9 in length and 0·65 in breadth.
We were fortunate enough to secure two nests; both were more than 60
feet from the ground. Breeds in the end of May, at an elevation of
7000 feet."
Captain Cock says:--"I first found this bird building its nest on the
top of a high chestnut-tree at Murree in the month of May. When the
nest was ready I took my friend Captain C.H.T. Marshall to be present
at the taking of it, as it had never, I think, been taken before. We
took the nest on the 30th May.
"It was an open flattish cup, like the nest of _O. kundoo_ in
structure, only shallower. It contained three eggs, pinky white,
covered with a shower of claret spots that at the larger end formed a
cap of dark claret colour. Another nest, which I took in June from the
top of an oak, contained two eggs."
To Colonel Marshall and Captain Cock I am indebted for a nest and egg
of this species.
The nest is a moderately deep cup, suspended between two prongs of a
horizontal fork. Externally it is about 4 inches in diameter and about
3 inches in depth. The egg-cavity is nearly hemispherical, 3 inches
in diameter and 1·5 in depth. It is a very loosely made structure,
composed internally of not very fine roots and externally coated with
green moss. Along the lines of suspension a good deal of wool is
incorporated in the structure, and it is chiefly by this wool that the
nest is suspended. The fork is a slender one, the prongs being from
0·3 to 0·4 in diameter.
The egg is a broad oval, a good deal pointed towards the small
end. The shell is very fine and compact, and has a fine gloss. The
ground-colour is white or pinky white, and is pretty thickly speckled
and finely spotted all over with brownish red and a little pale inky
purple. Just towards the large end the markings are very dense, and
form, more or less of a confluent cap of mingled brownish red and pale
lilac, the latter everywhere appearing to underlie the former.
The egg was taken on the 10th June, and measures 0·9 by 0·68.
239. Pteruthius melanotis, Hodgs. _The Chestnut-throated
Shrike-Tit_.
Allotrius oenobarbus, _Temm. apud Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 246.
Allotrius melanotis, _Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 611.
According to Mr. Hodgson's notes and figures, the Chestnut-throated
Shrike-Tit breeds in Sikhim and Nepal up to an elevation of 6000 or
7000 feet. The nest is placed at a height of 6 to 10 feet from the
ground, between some slender, leafy, horizontal fork, between which it
is suspended like that of an Oriole or White-eye. It is composed of
moss and moss-roots and vegetable fibres, beautifully and compactly
woven into a shallow cup some 4 inches in diameter, and with a cavity
some 2·5 in diameter and less than 1 in depth. Interiorly the nest is
lined with hair-like fibres and moss-roots; exteriorly it is adorned
with pieces of lichen. The eggs are two or three in number,
very regular ovals, about 0·77 in length by 0·49 in width. The
ground-colour is a delicate pinky lilac, and they are speckled and
spotted with violet or violet-purple, the markings being most numerous
towards the large end, where they have a tendency to form a mottled
zone.