Prinia gracilis, _Frankl. Jerd. B. Ind._ ii. p. 172; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 536.
Prinia hodgsoni, _Bl., Jerd. t.c._ p. 173; _Hume, t.c._ no. 538.
I have never myself succeeded in finding a nest of Franklin's
Wren-Warbler, but my friend Mr. F.R. Blewitt has sent me no less than
forty nests and eggs, with the parents; so that, although the eggs
belong to two, I might even say three, very different types, I
entertain no doubt that he is correct in assigning them to the same
species, the more so as, although the eggs vary, the nests are
identical. He has sent me several notes in regard to this species.
He says:--"On the 1st July, three miles south of the village of
Doongurgurh in the Raipoor District, I found a nest of Franklin's
Wren-Warbler, containing three fresh eggs. It was on rocky ground
between a footpath and a water-course, about 2 feet from the ground,
and firmly sewn to a single leaf of a murori plant. The nest was
constructed exclusively of very fine grass, with spiders' web affixed
in places to the exterior. It was somewhat cup-shaped, 3·3 inches in
depth and 2·4 in breadth externally. The egg-cavity was about 1·4 in
diameter, and about the same depth. The eggs were a delicate pale
unspotted blue.
"About 100 yards from the first, a second precisely similar, and
similarly situated, nest of this same species was found, which
contained three hard-set eggs, exactly similar in shape, texture, and
ground-colour to those in the first nest, but everywhere excessively
finely and thickly speckled with red, the specks exhibiting a strong
tendency to coalesce in a zone round the large end.
"On the 12th and 13th July we obtained ten nests of Franklin's
Wren-Warbler, all in the neighbourhood of Doongurgurh. From what I
have seen, I gather that this species breeds from the middle of June
to the middle of August in this part of the country. They appear to
resort to tracts at some little elevation, where the murori and kydia
bushes are abundant, and where grass grows rapidly in the early part
of the rains. The nests, very ingeniously made, are invariably sewn to
one or two leaves in the centre of one of the above-named bushes,
the entrance above, just as in the nest of an _Orthotomus_. They are
placed at heights of from a foot to 3 feet from the ground. Fine
grass, vegetable fibres, and other soft materials are chiefly used in
their construction, a little cobweb being often added. The eggs are
laid daily, and four is the normal number, though three hard-set ones
are sometimes found. The nest is prepared annually. As far as I know
they have only one brood. Both parents unite in building the nest and
in hatching and feeding the young.
"Of the ten nests now taken four contained speckled and six unspeckled
eggs. The two types are never found in the same nest. I send all the
nests, eggs, and birds."
Dr. Jerdon says:--"I found the nest of this species at Saugor, very
like that of the Tailor-bird but smaller, made of cotton, wool, and
various soft vegetable fibres, and occasionally bits of cloth, and I
invariably found it sewn to one leaf of the kydia, so common in the
jungles there. The eggs were pale blue, with some brown or reddish
spots often rarely visible."