Ixus blanfordi (_Jerd.), Hume, cat._ no. 452 quint.
Mr. Oates writes from Pegu:--"Nest in a small tree, well concealed
by leaves, about 7 feet from the ground, near Pegu. A very neat cup
measuring 3 inches diameter externally and 2·25 internally. The depth
1·75 inch outside and 1·25 inside. The sides of the nest, though very
strongly woven, can be seen through. The materials consist of small
fine branchlets of weeds, and the inside is neatly lined with grass.
One or two dead leaves, or rather fragments, are used in the exterior
walling.
"The nest was found on the 25th May, and contained three eggs slightly
incubated. The ground-colour is a fresh pink, but with little gloss.
The whole egg is covered with a profusion of dark purplish-red spots,
more thickly disposed at the thick end, but everywhere frequent. In
addition there are some underlying and much paler smears. The three
eggs measured respectively ·75, ·78, and ·77 in length, by ·63, ·62,
and ·61 in breadth.
"Subsequently I found five other nests, from the 1st April to the 20th
June, all similar to the one described. Eggs invariably three. Average
size of twelve eggs ·82 by ·6."
The nests of this species that I have seen have been very slight
flimsy structures, nearly hemispherical cups, composed of fine twigs
and the leaf-stalks of pennated leaves a little bound together with
cobwebs and thinly lined with fine hair-like grass. In some cases
a leaf or two has been attached to the outer surface to aid the
concealment of the nest. The nest is very loosely woven just like a
sieve, as a rule nowhere more than 0·25 inch thick, and with a truly
hemispherical cavity, diameter about 2·5, depth about 1·25.
The eggs are of the ordinary Bulbul type, but not amongst the more
richly-coloured examples of these; in shape and size they vary a good
deal, but typically they seem to be moderately broad ovals slightly
compressed towards the small end. The shell is fine and smooth, but
has scarcely any appreciable gloss; the ground is pale pink or pinky
white. At the large end the markings are dense, forming in some eggs
an almost confluent zone, in others a mottled cap; they consist
of irregular-shaped spots and specks of deep red and pale
subsurface-looking greyish purple; over the rest of the surface of the
egg outside the zone or cap the markings are much smaller in size and
much more thinly scattered, and it is observable that the secondary
purple markings are to a great extent confined to the zone or cap, as
the case may be, and its immediate neighbourhood.
Occasionally the markings, which seem always to be small and speckly,
are very sparsely set, leaving comparatively large portions of the
surface unmarked; and occasionally eggs are met with in which the
primary markings are wholly wanting, and there is nothing but a pale
reddish-purple cloudy mottling over the greater portion of the surface
of the egg.[A]
[Footnote A: PYCNONOTUS PLUMOSUS, Bl. _The Large Olive Bulbul_.
Ixus plumosus (_Bl.), Hume, cat._ no. 452 sept.
Mr. W. Davison writes:--"I found one nest of this Bulbul at Kossoom:
it was of the ordinary Bulbul type and placed in a small but dense
clump of cane, about 18 inches from the ground. The parent birds were
very vociferous when the nest was approached."
The eggs of all these Bulbuls, though they are separable when
individually compared, follow so closely the same type of colouring
that, it is almost impossible to make their distinctions apparent by
any verbal descriptions.
The eggs of the present species are like those of so many others,
moderately broad ovals, obtuse at the large end, somewhat compressed
towards the small end, at times slightly pyriform. The shell very
fine, smooth and thin, but strong, and generally with an appreciable
though not at all conspicuous gloss.
The ground-colour is pink or pinky white, and they are very thickly
speckled and spotted everywhere, but extremely densely so, and there
blotched also in a broad irregular zone, round the large end with
rich reddish maroon and dull greyish or inky purple--the rich colour
predominating in some eggs, the dull colour in others; and in some the
markings being all extremely fine and speckly, while in others they
are rather bolder. Two eggs measure 0·9 by 0·66.
PYCNONOTUS SIMPLEX, Less. _Moore's Olive Bulbul_.
Ixus brunneus (_Bl.), Hume, cat._ no. 452 oct.
Mr. W. Davison says:--"I took a nest of _P. simplex_ in some rather
thick jungle at Klang. The nest, of the ordinary Bulbul type (in fact
it might easily have passed for a nest of _Olocompsa_), was placed in
the fork of a small sapling about 6 feet from the ground. The nest
contained two eggs. The female was shot from the nest."
The eggs are moderately elongated, rather regular ovals, some
specimens having a slight pyriform tendency. The shell is fine and
compact, and seems to have generally an appreciable but not striking
gloss. The ground-colour appears to have been creamy pink, and it is
very thickly freckled and speckled all over with a rich maroon, in
amongst which tiny clouds of pale purple may be faintly discerned;
dense as are the markings everywhere, they are generally most so in a
zone round the large end. Very possibly this species will be found to
exhibit somewhat different types of coloration, as the eggs of all
Bulbuls vary very much; but certainly typically the markings of this
species are much more speckly than in most of the others, forming a
universal stippling over the entire surface. The two eggs measure 0·9
and 0·88 in length by 0·62 in breadth.]
Family SITTIDAE.