Regulus himalayensis, _Blyth, Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 206; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 580.
All I know of the nidification of this species is that Sir E.C. Buck,
C.S., found a nest at Rogee, in the Sutlej Valley, on the 8th June,
on the end of a deodar branch 8 feet from the ground and partly
suspended. It contained seven young birds fully fledged; no crest or
signs of a crest were observable in the young. Both the parent birds
and the nest were kindly sent to me.
The nest is a deep pouch suspended from several twigs, with the
entrance at the top, and composed entirely of fine lichens woven or
intervened into a thick, soft, flexible tissue of from three eighths
to half an inch in thickness. Externally the nest was about 3½ to 4
inches in depth, and about 3 inches in diameter.
Family SYLVIIDAE.
363. Acrocephalus stentoreus (H. & E.). _The Indian Great
Reed-Warbler_.
Acrocephalus brunnescens (_Jerd.), Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 154.
Calamodyta stentorea (_H. & E.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._
no. 515.
Both Mr. Brooks and Captain Cock succeeded in securing the nests and
eggs of the Indian Great Reed-Warbler in Cashmere. Common as it is,
my own collectors failed to get eggs, though they brought plenty of
nests.
The nest is a very deep massive cup hung to the sides of reeds. A nest
before me, taken in Cashmere on the 10th June, is an inverted and
slightly truncated cone. Externally it has a diameter of 3¼ inches
and a depth of nearly 6 inches. It is massive, but by no means neat;
composed of coarse water-grass, mingled with a few dead leaves and
fibrous roots of water-plants. The egg-cavity is lined with finer and
more compactly woven grass, and measures about 1¾ inch in diameter and
2¼ inches in depth.
It breeds in May and June; at the beginning of July all the nests
either contained young or were empty. Four is the full complement of
eggs.
Mr. Brooks noted _in epist._:--"_Srinuggur, 10th June_. I went out
early this morning on the lake here to look for eggs of _Acrocephalus
stentoreus_, but it came on to rain so heavily that I only partially
succeeded. I took three nests, two with three eggs each, and one with
four young ones, the latter half-hatched. The eggs very much resemble
large and boldly-marked Sparrows' eggs. They are smaller than the eggs
of _A. arundinaceus_, but very similar. The latter have larger clear
spaces without spots than those of our bird. I neither saw nor heard
any other aquatic warbler."
Later, in a paper on the eggs and nests he had obtained in Cashmere,
he stated that this species "breeds abundantly in the Cashmere lakes.
The nest is supported, about 18 inches above the water, by three or
four reeds, and is a deep cup composed of grasses and fibres. The eggs
are four, very like those of _A. arundinaceus_, but the markings are
more plentiful and smaller."
Captain Cock writes to me that "the Large Reed-Warbler is very common
in the reeds that fringe all the lakes in Cashmere. It breeds in June,
builds a largish nest of dry sedge, woven round five or six reeds, of
a deep cup form, which it places about 2 feet above the water. It lays
four or five eggs, rather blunt ovals, equally blunt at both ends,
blotched with olive and dusky grey on a dirty-white ground."
Mr. S.B. Doig, who found this bird breeding in the Eastern Narra in
Sind, writes:--"On the 4th August, while my man was poling along in
a canoe in a large swamp on the lookout for eggs, he passed a small
bunch of reeds and in them spotted a nest with a bird on it. The nest
contained three beautiful fresh eggs. A few days later I joined him,
and on asking about these eggs he described the bird and said he
had found several other nests of the same species, but all of them
contained young ones nearly fledged. I made him show me some of these
nests, all of which were situated in clumps of reed, in the middle of
the swamp, and in these same reeds I found and shot the young ones
which, though fledged, were not able to fly. These I sent with one of
the eggs to Mr. Hume, who has identified them as belonging to this
species. The nests were composed of frayed pieces of reed-grass and
fine sedge, the latter being principally towards the inside, thus
forming a kind of lining. The nests were loosely put together, were
about 3 inches inner diameter, 1¼ inch deep, the outer diameter being
6 inches. They were situated about a foot over water-line in the tops
of reeds growing in the water."
Colonel Legge says:--"This species breeds in Ceylon during June
and July. Its nest was procured by me in the former month at the
Tamara-Kulam, and was a very interesting structure, built into the
fork of one of the tall seed-stalks of the rush growing there; the
walls rested exteriorly against three of the branches of the fork, but
were worked round some of the stems of the flower itself which sprung
from the base of the fork. It was composed of various fine grasses,
with a few rush-blades among them, and was lined with the fine stalks
of the flower divested, by the bird I conclude, of the seed-matter
growing on them. In form it was a tolerably deep cup, well shaped,
measuring 2½ inches in internal diameter by 2 in depth. The single egg
which it contained at the time of my finding it was a broad oval in
shape, pale green, boldly blotched with blackish over spots of olive
and olivaceous brown, mingled with linear markings of the same, under
which there were small clouds and blotches of bluish grey. The black
markings were longitudinal and thickest at the obtuse end. It measured
0·89 by 0·67 inch."
The eggs of this species, as might have been expected, greatly
resemble those of _A. arundinaceus_. In shape they are moderately
elongated ovals, in some cases almost absolutely perfect, but
generally slightly compressed towards one end. The shell, though fine,
is entirely devoid of gloss.
The ground-colour varies much, but the two commonest types are pale
green or greenish white and a pale somewhat creamy stone-colour.
Occasionally the ground-colour has a bluish tinge.
The markings vary even more than the ground-colour. In one type the
ground is everywhere minutely, but not densely, stippled with minute
specks, too minute for one to be able to say of what colour; over this
are pretty thickly scattered fairly bold and well-marked spots and
blotches of greyish black, inky purple, olive-brown, yellowish olive,
and reddish-umber brown; here and there pale inky clouds underlay the
more distinct markings. In other eggs the stippling is altogether
wanting, and the markings are smaller and less well-defined. In some
eggs one or more of the colours predominate greatly, and in some
several are almost entirely wanting. In most eggs the markings are
densest towards the large end, where they sometimes form more or less
of a mottled, irregular, ill-defined cap.
In length the eggs vary from 0·8 to 0·97, and in breadth from 0·58 to
0·63; but the average of the only nine eggs that I measured was 0·89,
nearly, by rather more than 0·61.