[Footnote A: I reproduce this article nearly as it appears in the
'Rough Draft;' but I have great doubts as to the occurrence of this
bird in Kumaon, and I further doubt the identification of Hodgson's
notes with this species. It is quite clear, from his specimens in the
British Museum, that Hodgson confounded _S. atrigularis_ in winter
plumage with _S. crinigera_, and his plate of the former in summer
plumage contains no note on nidification.--ED.]
Suya atrogularis, _Moore, Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 184; _Hume, Rough
Draft N. & E._ no. 549.
The Black-throated Hill-Warbler breeds in Kumaon and the Himalayas
eastwards from thence, at elevations of 4000 to 6000 feet.
The breeding-season lasts from April to July, but the birds mostly lay
in May and June. Open grassy hillsides dotted about with scrub, thin
forests, or gardens are the localities it affects. The nest is placed
at times in some low bush surrounded with and grown through by grass,
more commonly in clumps of grass, and never at any great height from
the ground. It is more or less egg-shaped, and placed with the longer
diameter vertical, the entrance being on one side above the middle. It
is composed exteriorly sometimes of fine grass-roots, sometimes of the
finest possible grass, loosely but sufficiently firmly interwoven,
a little moss being often incorporated in the upper portion, and
internally always, I think, exclusively of fine grass.
Four is perhaps the usual number of the eggs, but I have found five.
Mr. Gammie, writing from Sikhim, says:--"I have found four nests of
this species this year in the Chinchona reserves, at elevations of
from 4500 to 5500 feet, during the months of May and June. The nests
were all in open grassy country, in grass by the sides of low banks,
and not above a foot off the ground. They are globular, with a lateral
entrance, composed of grass, and with a little moss about the
dome. One I measured was 5·5 high, and 4·5 in diameter externally;
internally the nest was 2·4 in diameter, and the cavity had a total
height of 3·9, of which 2 inches was below the lower edge of the
entrance. According to my experience four is the regular complement of
eggs. I have repeatedly (three times this year) shot the female off
the nest, and beyond question Jerdon is wrong about this bird's laying
Indian-red eggs."
According to Mr. Hodgson's notes, this species breeds in groves and
open forest in Sikhim and the central region of Nepal from April to
June, building a large globular nest in clumps of grass, of dry grass,
roots, and moss, lined with fine grass and moss-roots. The entrance,
which is circular, is at one side; the nest is egg-shaped, the longer
diameter being perpendicular, and is placed at a height of about 6
inches from the ground. A nest taken on the 30th. May measured 6·12
in height and 3·5 in diameter externally, and the circular aperture,
which was just above the middle, was 1·75 in diameter. It contained
four eggs, which are represented as ovals, a good deal pointed towards
one end, measuring 0·69 by 0·55. The ground-colour is a pale green,
and they are speckled and spotted with bright red, the markings being
most numerous towards the large end, where they have a tendency to
form a zone or cap.
Dr. Jerdon says that "it makes its nest of fine grass and withered
stalks, large, very loosely put together, globular, with a hole near
the top, and lays three or four eggs of an entirely dull Indian-red
colour." This undoubtedly is a mistake; the eggs he refers to are, I
think, those of _Neornis flavolivaceus_. He gave them to me, but was
not certain of the species they belonged to.
The eggs of the present species are of much the same shape as those
of the preceding, and there is a certain similarity in the colour of
both; but in these eggs the ground-colour instead of being pink or
pinky white, is a pale, delicate, sometimes greyish, green. Then
though there is the same kind of zone round the large end, it is a
purple or purplish, instead of a brick-red, and it is manifestly made
up of innumerable minute specks, and has not the cloudy confluent
character of the zone in _S. crinigera_. Outside the zone minute
specks of the same purplish red are scattered, in some pretty thickly,
in others sparsely, over the whole of the rest of the surface. As a
body the eggs have a faint gloss, decidedly less, however, than those
of _S. crinigera_, but some few are absolutely glossless.
In length the eggs vary from 0·63 to 0·79, and in breadth from 0·46 to
0·43; but the average of forty-five eggs is 0·68 by 0·5.