Tephrodornis pelvica (_Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 409; _Hume. cat._
no. 263.
The Nepal Wood-Shrike is a permanent resident throughout Burma, Assam,
Cachar, and the sub-Himalayan Terais and Ranges to which the typical
Indo-Burmese fauna extends. Still we have no information as to its
nidification, and the only egg of the species that I possess was
extracted from the oviduct of a female shot by Mr. Davison on the 26th
of March, 1874, near Tavoy in Tenasserim. The egg is rather a handsome
one--very Shrike-like in its character, but rather small for the size
of the bird. In shape it is a broad oval, very slightly compressed
towards one end. The shell is fine and compact, but has no gloss.
The ground is white, with the faintest possible greenish tinge only
noticeable when the egg is placed alongside a pure white one, such as
a Bee-eater's for instance. The markings are bold, but except at the
large end not very dense--spots and blotches of a light clear brown,
and (chiefly at the large end) somewhat pale inky grey. Where the two
colours overlap each other, there the result of the mixture is a dark
dusky brown, so that the markings appear to be of three colours. Fully
half the markings are gathered into a broad conspicuous but very
broken and irregular zone about the broad end. The egg measured only
0·86 by 0·69.
Subsequently to writing the above Mr. Mandelli sent me a nest of this
species found at Ging near Darjeeling on the 27th April. It contained
four fresh eggs, and was placed on branches of a very large tree about
22 feet from the ground. The tree was situated at an elevation of
about 3000 feet. The nest is a large massive cup, 5 inches in exterior
diameter and rather more than 3 in height. It is composed of tendrils
of creepers and stems of herbaceous plants, to many of which the
bright yellow amaranth flowers remain attached; and all over the sides
and bottom masses of flower-stems of grass with the white silky down
attached are thickly plastered, which, intermingled as this white down
is with the glistening yellow flowers, produces a very ornamental
effect, and looks as it the bird had really had an eye to decoration.
Inside the nest is entirely lined with very fine grass-stems. The nest
is everywhere about an inch thick, and the cavity about 3 inches in
diameter by nearly 2 deep.
Eggs said to belong to this species kindly sent me by Mr. Mandelli,
whose men obtained them on the 27th April, are very Shrike-like in
their appearance. In shape they vary from broad to ordinary ovals,
generally somewhat compressed towards the small end. The shell is
white but almost glossless. The ground-colour is a dead white, and
they are profusely speckled and spotted with yellowish brown, paler in
some eggs, darker in others. In all the eggs the markings are by far
the most numerous towards the large end. Two eggs measure 0·95 and
0·91 in length by 0·74 and 0·72 in breadth respectively.