Criniger flaveolus (_Gould), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 83; _Hume. Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 451.
A nest of this species sent me from Darjeeling was found in July, at
an elevation of about 3000 feet.
It was placed on the branches of a medium-sized tree, at a height of
only about 5 feet from the ground.
The nest was a compact, rather shallow saucer, 5·5 inches in diameter
and about 2 inches in height externally. The cavity was about 3·5 in
diameter and an inch in depth. The greater portion of the nest was
composed of dead leaves bound together firmly by fine brown roots;
inside the leaves was just a lining of rather coarser brown roots, and
again an inner lining of black horsehair-like roots and fine steins of
the maiden-hair fern.
The nest contained three fresh eggs. These eggs vary from broad to
somewhat elongated ovals, are more or less pointed towards the small
end, and exhibit a fine gloss.
The ground is a beautiful salmon-pink, and it is thinly spotted,
blotched, and marked with irregular lines of deep maroon-red. Most of
the markings in one egg are gathered into a very irregular straggling
zone round the large end, and the other egg exhibits a tendency to
form a similar zone. Besides these primary markings a few spots and
clouds of dull purple, looking as if beneath the surface of the shell,
are thinly scattered about the egg, chiefly in the neighbourhood of
the zone.
These eggs vary from 0·9 to 1·0 in length, and from 0·7 to 0·72 in
breadth.
Several nests of this species sent me by the late Mr. Mandelli and
obtained by him in British and Native Sikhim during July and the early
part of August are all precisely of the same type. They each contained
two fresh eggs; they were all placed in the branches of small trees in
the midst of dense brushwood or heavy jungle, at heights of from 4 to
10 feet from the ground. The nests are broad and saucer-like, nearly
5 inches in diameter, but not much above 2 in height externally; the
cavities average about 3·25 in diameter and about 1 in depth. The body
of the nest is composed of dead leaves, the sides are more or less
felted round with rich brown fibrous, almost wool-like roots; inside
the leaves fine twigs and stems of herbaceous plants, all of a uniform
brown tint, are wound round and round, apparently to keep the leaves
in their places interiorly, and then the cavity is lined with
jet-black horsehair-like vegetable fibres. What these are I do not
know, but they are precisely like horsehair to look at, only they are
comparatively brittle. The contrast of colour between the jet-black
lining and the rich brown of the lip of the saucer, which is constant
in all the nests, is very striking.
The eggs of this species sent me by Mr. Mandelli, obtained by him in
Sikhim at elevations of from 2000 to 4000 feet in July and the early
part of August, possess a very distinctive character. They are broad
ovals, much pointed towards the small end, and they are more glossy
than the eggs of any other of this family with which I am acquainted.
The ground-colour is pink. The markings consist of curious hair-line
scratches, clouded blotches, and irregular spots--in some eggs all
very hazy and ill-defined, in others more scratchy and sharp. The
great majority of the markings seem to be gathered together into
an irregular and imperfect zone round the large end. In colour the
markings vary from a deep brownish maroon to a dull brickdust-red,
sometimes they are slightly more purplish. In some eggs a few faint
clouds or small spots of subsurface-looking dusky purple may be
noticed mingled with the rest of the markings.
These eggs are totally unlike the eggs of _Criniger ictericus_. I have
never had an opportunity of verifying the eggs myself, but as three
different nests have now been taken, all containing precisely similar
eggs, I believe there can be no doubt of their authenticity.