"_Kakencotte State Forest, Mysore District_.--I send you six eggs,
specimens from three different nests.
"This bird is very common in the heavy forests of the Mysore District,
but the only nest I have ever found myself was on the 2nd May, 1880,
and contained two or three young birds. I could not distinctly see how
many. The nest was fixed towards the end of a branch of a tree, at a
considerable height from the ground, and was almost impossible to get
at. Had there been eggs in it I could not have taken them.
"The breeding-season I should say was from the beginning of April to
the end of May.
"Three nests, each containing three eggs, were brought to me this
season on the 10th and 26th April, and 9th May, 1880, by Cooroobahs
(the jungle-tribes in these forests); and although the eggs in each
nest vary considerably from one another, there is no doubt in my mind
that the eggs belong to one and the same species of bird.
"It is a bird so well known in these forests that it would be
impossible to mistake it for any other.
"In one case only was the nest brought to me, and this, which
unfortunately I did not keep, was loosely made of twigs and roots."
Professor H. Littledale, quoting Mr. J. Davidson, informs us that
this species breeds in the east of Godhra, and therefore probably
throughout the Panch Mehals.
Mr. J. Inglis, writing from Cachar, says:--"The Bhimraj is very
common, frequenting thick jungle; it often goes in company with other
birds, which it mimics to perfection. It lays about four eggs in a
shallow nest made of grass similar to the above; it is very easily
tamed. The hill-tribes use the long tail-feathers for ornamenting
their head-dresses."
Mr. Oates writes from Pegu:--"I have taken the eggs of this species on
all dates, from the 30th April to the 16th June.
"The nest is placed in forks of the outer branches of trees at all
heights from 20 to 70 feet, and in all cases they are very difficult
to take without breaking the eggs.
"The nest is a cradle, and the whole of it lies below the fork to
which it is attached. It is made entirely of small branches of weeds
and creepers, finer as they approach the interior. The egg-cup is
generally, but not always, lined with dry grass.
"The outside dimensions are 6 inches in diameter and 3 deep. The
interior measures 4 inches by 2. In one nest the sides are bound to
the fork by cotton thread in addition to the usual weeds and creepers.
"The eggs have very little or no gloss, and differ among themselves a
good deal in colour. In one clutch the ground-colour is white, spotted
and blotched, not very thickly, with neutral tint and inky purple,
chiefly at the larger end. Other eggs are pinkish salmon, and the
shell is more or less thickly or thinly covered with pale greyish
purple or neutral tint, and brownish-yellow or orangebrown spots and
dashes.
"They vary in size from 1·2 to 1·06 in length, and ·85 to ·8 in
breadth."
Major C.T. Bingham has the following note:--"About five miles below
the large village of Meplay, in the district of that name, the main
stream of the Meplay river is joined by a tributary, the Theedoquee.
On the 4th April I was wading across the mouth of the latter, when my
attention was attracted by seeing a pair of the above birds dart from
a small tree growing at the very point of the fork where the streams
met, and sweep down at my dog, not actually striking him, but nearly
doing so. Of course, I made for the tree, and sure enough there, about
15 feet from the ground, in a fork, was a large mass of twigs, above
which was placed a neatly made cup-shaped nest, lined with fine black
roots, and containing three fresh eggs, densely spotted, chiefly at
the larger end, with yellowish brown and sepia, on a ground-colour
of dull greenish white. The whole time the peon I had sent up was
climbing up and getting the nest, the two birds kept sweeping round
and round with harsh cries. I secured them both for the identification
of the eggs."
The eggs of this species are typically rather long ovals, generally a
good deal pointed towards the small end. They are dull eggs, and never
seem to have any perceptible gloss. The ground-colour varies from
white to a rich warm pink. The markings are of all sizes and shapes,
from large blotches to the tiniest specks, and they vary in every egg,
being thickly set in some, thinly in others, but as a rule the largest
and most conspicuous markings are about the large end. Again, in
colour the markings vary very much: they are red, purplish red,
reddish brown, pale purple, and inky grey; generally the eggs
exhibit both coloured markings reddish and lilac, but sometimes the
white-grounded eggs have only these latter. Some of the pink eggs are
strikingly handsome, and remind one of those of some of the Bulbuls.
Others are dull eggs with only a few irregular grey clouds about the
large end, thinly interspersed with brownish-red spots, usually darker
about the centre, and elsewhere excessively minutely and thinly
speckled with spots too small to render it possible to say what colour
they are.
An egg I received from Darjeeling measures 1·1 by 0·87; others
received from Mynall from Mr. Bourdillon, and the Kakencotte Forest,
Mysore, from Mr. I. Macpherson, vary in length from 1·16 to 1·1, and
in breadth from 0·84 to 0·75. Three eggs, taken in Pegu by Mr. Oates,
measure from 1·1 to 1·05 in length, by 0·83 to 0·81 in breadth, and
are smaller than those the dimensions of which he himself records
above.
Family CERTHIIDAE.