Sitta castaneoventris, _Frankl., Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 386.
The late Captain Cock furnished me with the following note a long time
ago regarding the breeding of this Nuthatch:--"A very common bird at
Sitapur in Oudh, every mango-tope containing one or more pairs. They
pair early and commence making their nests in February, laying their
eggs in March. The nests are in cavities of trees, at no great height
from the ground, and unless observed in course of construction are
difficult to find--the bird filling the whole cavity up with mud
consolidated with some viscid seed of a parasitical plant, and merely
leaving a small round hole for entrance. This composition hardens like
pucca masonry in a very short time, and secures the nest from all
marauders except the oologist. The nest consists of a few dry leaves
at the bottom of the cavity at no great depth, and upon this four eggs
are laid. The birds sit close and do not easily desert their nests, as
the following instance will show. In 1873 I found a _Sitta's_ nest in
a mango-tree, and after watching the birds for some days, when the
eggs had been laid I took the nest, placing my handkerchief in the
nest to prevent bits of mud falling in on the eggs. I opened out the
cavity, cleaning away the mud, and putting in my hand I caught the
female bird. I looked at her and let her go. In 1874 curiosity induced
me to look at the place again, and to my surprise I saw the cavity had
been built up again. I caught a bird on the nest and took four eggs;
it may have been a different bird, but there was only one pair in that
tope of trees, and was probably the same bird I caught in 1873. I
found another nest in my garden about 2 feet from the ground, and I
often used to flash the sunlight from a small hand-mirror, that I use
out birds' nesting, onto the hen bird while she sat on her eggs. Our
collection contains a large series of these eggs, the produce of some
five-and-twenty nests taken by myself at Sitapur."
Major C.T. Bingham writes:--"At Allahabad I found two nests of this
little Nuthatch, one in July and one in September. I regret to say
neither contained any eggs, though the birds were going in and out
constantly. The nests were in tiny holes in mango-trees, the entrances
being still more contracted by earth being plastered round."
Colonel C.H.T. Marshall observes:--"A nest of the Chestnut-bellied
Nuthatch was pointed out to me at Umballa in the next garden to mine.
It was about 12 feet above the ground in an old mango-tree; the
locality chosen was the stump of a branch which had been cut off and
had rotted down. Outside there was a great deal of masonry work as
hard and firm as that on white-ant hills, in the middle of which was a
neat circular hole just large enough for the passage of the bird. The
masonry continued down inside the hole as far as I could see; I did
not break it open, as there were nearly fledged young ones inside.
I knew this because the parent birds had been seen for some days
carrying in food. I did not see the nest till the end of May. The
following spring I found another nest at Kurnal in a bokain tree;
it was constructed after the same fashion; the nest itself, which
consisted only of dead leaves, was not very far down. I was
unfortunately this time (March 15th) too early for the eggs. The
holes are not easy to see from the ground, as they are most skilfully
concealed from view."
The eggs of this species are very regular, slightly elongated ovals,
scarcely compressed or pointed towards the small end at all. The shell
is fragile, and is either entirely glossless or has only a trace of
gloss. The ground-colour is white, with at times a faint pinkish
tinge, and the markings consist of spooks, spots, and splashes (always
most numerous at the large end, where they usually form a more or less
conspicuous though irregular cap) of dull or bright brick-red, more
or less intermingled in most specimens with dull reddish lilac. The
arrangement and size of the markings are very variable. In some eggs
they are all mere specks, forming a small speckly cap at the large
end, and elsewhere very thinly scattered about the surface; in others
many of the spots are (for the size of the egg) large, the majority
are well-marked spots and not mere specks, and the whole surface of
the egg is pretty thickly studded with them, while the broad end
exhibits a large blotched and mottled cap. The majority of the eggs
are intermediate between these two extremes.
In length the eggs vary from 0·61 to 0·72 and in breadth from. 0·5 to
0·54, but the average of numerous specimens is 0·67 by 0·52.[A]
[Footnote A: SITTA TEPHRONOTA, Sharpe. _The Eastern Rock-Nuthatch_
Sitta neumayeri, _Mich., Hume, cat._ no. 248 quint.
The Eastern Rock-Nuthatch is abundant in Baluchistan, and without
doubt breeds there. The following note by Lieut. H.E. Barnes will
therefore be interesting. He writes from Afghanistan:--"This Nuthatch
is very common on the hills. It appears to choose very different
localities to build in. In some instances a hole in the face of a
rock is selected, and this it lines with agglutinated mud and resin,
continuing the lining-case until it, projects in the shape of a cone
to fully 8 inches. It seems fond of decorating its little palace
with feathers to a distance of 2 or even 3 feet, and it is thus a
conspicuous object; but most nests are found in holes in trees, and
even here feathers are stuck into crevices all around. They are
usually well lined with camel-hair.
"They breed in March and April. The eggs are usually four in number (I
have sometimes found five), oval in shape, more or less glossy white,
and more or less densely or sparsely (generally most densely towards
the large end) spotted and blotched with varying shades of chestnut
to reddish brown, more or less intermingled with pale purple and
occasionally purplish grey. Some eggs are very richly marked. Some are
almost pure white. They average 0·87 by 0·57."
The eggs of this species are typically moderately broad ovals,
slightly pointed towards the small end, but elongated and more or less
blunt-ended pyriform examples occur. The shell is extremely fine and
smooth, but has only moderate amount of gloss in any specimen that I
have seen and in some specimens has only a trace of this. The ground
colour is pure white, and the eggs are generally thinly speckled,
spotted, or blotched, about the broad end only, with a pale red;
occasionally a few greyish-purple spots and blotches are intermingled
with the other markings, and specks and tiny spots of both red and
grey sometimes extend to the smaller end of the egg also. I have seen
no such examples myself, but very probably in some eggs the principal
markings may be at the small end. Eighteen eggs vary from 0·81 to 0·91
in length by 0·61 to 0·69 in breadth.]