Chibia hottentota (_L.), Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 439; _Hume, Rough Draft
N. & E._ no. 286.
Mr. R. Thompson says:--"The Hair-crested Drongo is extremely common as
a breeder in all our hot valleys (Kumaon and Gurwhal). It lays in May
and June, building in forks of branches of small leafy trees situated
in warm valleys having an elevation of from 2000 to 2500 feet. The
nest is circular, about 5 inches in diameter, rather deep and hollow;
it is composed of fine roots and fibres bound together with cobwebs,
and it is lined with hairs and fine roots. They lay from three to
four much elongated, purplish-white eggs, spotted with pink or claret
colour."
Dr. Jerdon remarks:--"The Lepchas at Darjeeling brought me the nest,
which was said to have been placed high up in a large tree; it was
composed of twigs and roots and a few bits of grass, and contained
two eggs, livid white, with purplish and claret spots, and of a very
elongated form."
The Jobraj, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes and figures, begins to
lay in Nepal in April. It builds a large shallow nest, 8 or 9 inches
in diameter externally, with the cavity of about half that diameter,
attached, as a rule, to the slender branches of some horizontal fork,
between which it is suspended much like that of an Oriole, though much
shallower than this latter; it is composed of small twigs, fine roots,
and grass-stems bound together, and it is attached to the branches by
vegetable fibre, and more or less coated with cobwebs; little pieces
of lichen and moss are also blended in the nest. It lays three or four
eggs, rather pyriform in shape, measuring 1·25 by 0·86 inch, with a
whitish or pinky-whitish ground, speckled and spotted pretty well all
over, but most densely towards the large end, with reddish pink.
From Sikhim Mr. Gammie writes:--"I took two nests of the Hair-crested
Drongo this year in June, both at about an elevation of 1500 feet in
wooded valleys, placed well up in the outer branches of tall, slender
trees; they are of a broad saucer-shape, openly but firmly made of
roots and stems of slender climbers, and destitute of lining. There
is a good deal of cobweb on the outsides of the nests, and they were
attached to the supporting branches by the same material. One was
fixed in among several upright sprays, the other suspended in a
slender fork after the manner of an Oriole. They measured about 6
inches broad by 2¼ deep externally, internally 4 by 1¾. One nest
contained four fresh eggs, the other three partially-incubated eggs."
Mr. Oates, writing from Pegu, says:--"In the first week of May I took
several nests of this bird, but in all cases the nests were situated
in such dangerous places that most of the eggs got broken; there were
three in each nest. The position of the nest and the nest itself are
very much like those of _D. paradiseus_. Comparing many nests of both
species together, the only difference appears to be that the nests of
the Hair-crested Drongo are slightly larger on the whole.
"The only two eggs saved measure 1·10 by ·8 and 1·11 by ·81; they are
slightly glossy, dull white, minutely and thickly freckled and spotted
with reddish brown and pale underlying marks of neutral tint.
"I may add that at the commencement of May all the eggs were much
incubated."
Major C.T. Bingham remarks:--"During the breeding season in the end
of March and in April I saw a great number of nests round and about
Meeawuddy in Tenasserim, but all inaccessible, as they were invariably
built out at the very end of the thinnest branches of eng, teak,
thingan (_Hopea odorata_), and other trees.
"Except during those two months, I have not seen the bird plentiful
anywhere."
Mr. J.R. Cripps has written the following valuable notes regarding
the breeding of the Hair-crested Drongo in the Dibrugarh district in
Assam:--
"17th May, 1879. Nest with three fresh eggs, attached to a fork in one
of the outer brandies of an otinga (_Dillenia pentagyna_) tree, and
about 15 feet off the ground.
"15th May, 1880. Three fresh eggs in a nest 20 feet off the ground,
and a few yards from my bungalow, in an oorian (_Bischoffia javanica_,
Bl.).
"5th June, 1880. Nest with three partly-incubated eggs, in one of the
outer branches of a jack (_Artocarpus integrifolia_) tree, and about
15 feet off the ground.
"27th May, 1881. Three fresh eggs in a nest on a soom (_Machilus
odoratissima_) tree at the edge of the forest bordering the tea. The
nests are deep saucers, 3½ inches in diameter, internally 1½ deep,
with the sides about ¼ thick; but the bottom is so flimsy that the
eggs are easily seen from below, the materials being grass, roots, and
fine tendrils of creepers, especially if these are thorny, when they
are used as a lining. The nest is always situated in the fork of a
branch."
The nests are large, shallow, King-Crow-like structures, often
suspended between forks, sometimes placed between four or five upright
shoots, at times resting on a horizontal bough against and attached to
some more or less upright shoots. They are composed mainly of roots
thinly but firmly twisted together, have sometimes a good deal of
cobweb twisted round their outer surface, often a good deal of
vegetable fibre used for the same purpose and, though they have no
lining, are always composed interiorly of finer material than that
used for the outer portion of the structure. Exteriorly the diameter
varies from 6 to nearly 7 inches, the height from nearly 2 to 2½; the
cavity is usually about 4 inches in diameter and 1·5 to 1·75 in depth.
I have taken the nests in May and June alike in small and large trees,
at elevations of from 10 to 30 feet from the ground.
Typically the eggs are rather broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards
the small end, but they vary a great deal both in size and shape, are
occasionally very much elongated, and again, at times, exhibit the
characteristic pointing but feebly. The ground-colour varies from
greyish white to a delicate pale pink; as a rule the markings are
small and inconspicuous frecklings and specklings of pale purple
reddish where the ground, is pink, greyish where it is white,
tolerably thickly set about the large end and somewhat sparsely
elsewhere; but in some eggs these markings are everywhere almost
obsolete. In many there is a dull pale purplish cloud underlying the
primary markings, extending over the greater part of the large end of
the egg. Not uncommonly a few specks and spots of yellowish brown
are scattered here and there about the egg. In one egg before me the
markings are larger, more decided, and fewer in number--distinct
spots, some of them one tenth of an inch in diameter; and in this egg
the spots are decidedly brownish red, while intermixed with, them are
a few specks and clouds of inky purple. The ground in this case is a
pale pinky white.
As a rule the eggs are entirely devoid of gloss, but one or two have a
very faint gloss.
The eggs measure from 1·01 to 1·21 in length, and from 0·79 to 0·86 in
breadth; but the average of twenty-nine eggs is 1·12 by 0·81.