Pericrocotus peregrinus (_Linn_), _Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 423; _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 276.
Our Small Minivet lays during the latter half of June (as soon, in
fact, as the rains set in), and throughout July and August. I believe
it breeds pretty well all over India and Burma.
The nest is small and neat, and done up generally like a Chaffinch's,
to resemble the bark of the tree on which it is placed.
The nests that I have seen have been invariably placed at a
considerable height from the ground in the fork of a branch, most
commonly, I think, a mango-tree, though I have occasionally noticed
them in other trees.
The nest is a small moderately deep cup, with an internal cavity about
1·7 inch to 1·9 in diameter, and nearly an inch in depth. The sides of
the nest are about 3/8 inch thick, and the thickness of the bottom of
the nest varies according to the shape of the fork chosen, whether
obtuse or acute-angled. In the former case the bottom of the nest
is sometimes not above ¼ inch in depth. In the latter case, it is
sometimes as much as an inch in thickness. It is composed of very
fine, needle-like twigs (with at times here and there a few feathers)
carefully bound together externally with cobwebs, and coated with
small pieces of bark or dead leaves, or both, so that looked at from
below with the naked eye it is impossible to distinguish it from one
of the many little excrescences so common, especially on mango-trees.
There appears to be rarely any regular lining, a very little down and
cobwebs forming the only bed for the eggs, and even this is often
wanting. Sometimes a few tiny dead leaves or a little lichen will be
found incorporated in the nest, and occasionally, but rarely, fine
grass-stems take the place of very slender twigs.
Three is, I believe, the normal number of the eggs. I extract a couple
of old notes I made in regard to the nests of this species:--"_August
5th_.--Took three eggs of this bird, shooting the two old birds at the
same time. The tree was a mango, the nest was in the fork of a branch,
some 40 feet from the ground, built interiorly with very small twigs,
with here and there a very few feathers intermixed, and was exteriorly
coated with fine flakes of bark held in their place by gossamer
threads. It was cup-shaped, with an interior diameter of 1-7/8 by ¾
inch.
"The eggs had a slightly greenish-white ground, thickly spotted and
speckled, and towards the larger end blotched, with somewhat brownish
red; the markings showing a decided tendency to form a zone round, or
cap at the larger end."
"_Allygurh, August 27th_.--Another beautiful little nest in a
mango-tree high up, a tiny cup about 1½ inch internal diameter by ¾
inch deep, woven with very fine twigs, and exteriorly coated with tiny
fragments of bark and dead leaves firmly secured in their places with
gossamer threads and cobwebs. It contained two fresh eggs; a pale
slightly greenish-white ground, richly speckled and spotted and
sparsely blotched with a purplish and a brownish red, the markings
greatly predominating towards the larger end."
Mr. F.R. Blewitt, detailing his experiences in Jhansie and Saugor,
says:--"Breeds in June and July. The tamarind-tree is by preference
chosen by this bird for its nest; at least the three I saw were all on
tamarind-trees. The nest, cup-shaped, is a compactly made structure;
the exterior appeared to be composed of the very fine petioles of
leaves, with a thick coating all over of what looked like spider's
web; attached to this web-like substance here and there, for better
disguise, were the dry leaves of the tamarind-tree; the lining of very
fine grass. The outer diameter of a nest may fairly be given at 2·2
inches, inner at 1·8, depth of nest 0·9. Two is the regular number
of eggs, at least that was the number in the three nests I took. In
colour they are of a pale greenish white, sparingly speckled on the
narrower half of the egg with brownish spots, but they have on the
broader half the spots more dense, and forming at the end a more or
less complete cap. The feat of securing a nest is a most hazardous
one, for it is always fixed close in between two delicate forks at the
extreme end of a slight side-branch near to the top of the tree. On
each occasion that the nest was detected the male bird was found
flitting about near to it, the female all the while sitting on the
eggs. On the last two occasions of finding the nests, it was this
flitting to and fro of the male that attracted us; otherwise the nest,
is so small that from the ground the eye can scarcely distinguish
it from the branch. The bird appears to be migratory, for since the
termination of the breeding-season it has disappeared from these
parts."
Major C.T. Bingham writes to me:--"Although this bird is common enough
both at Allahabad and at Delhi, I have found it difficult to find its
nest, from the fact that it is placed at the very extreme tip of leafy
branches. However, with careful watching and patience, I managed to
find one nest at Allahabad and five at Delhi. The first I found on
the 3rd July at Chupree near Allahabad. It contained two well-fledged
young ones, that hopped out as soon as the nest was touched. Out of
the five at Delhi I managed to get six eggs; three of the nests when
found being empty, were afterwards deserted by the birds. Of the two
nests with eggs, one contained four and the other two. The nests are
tiny little cups, made of very fine grass, and coated externally with
cobwebs, to which are attached bits of bark and dry leaves. The eggs
are a greenish stone-colour, thickly speckled with light purple and
brownish red. The earliest nest I have found was on the 21st March,
on the banks of the canal at Delhi, so that the bird occasionally, at
Delhi at least, lays in spring. The average of eggs I have is 0·68 in
length, and 0·55 in breadth."
Colonel E.A. Butler furnishes us with the following interesting
note:--"Found a nest at Belgaum, containing two fresh eggs, on the 3rd
September, 1879. It was situated in the fork of one of the small outer
top branches of a tall mango-tree, and was on the whole about the
prettiest nest I have seen in India. It consisted of a tiny cup about
1¼ x 2 inches measured interiorly, and 1-7/8 x 2½ inches exteriorly.
Depth inside 1 inch, outside 1½ inches from rim to proper base,
excluding about an inch of lichen continued down one side of the bough
below the fork in which the nest was built. It was composed, so far as
I could judge after a very minute examination, almost entirely of the
white lichen which grows so freely on the bark of every tree during
the rains, with a few cobwebs incorporated and wound round the outside
to keep it together, assimilating so perfectly with the branch upon
which it was placed, which was also overgrown with the same kind of
lichen, that without watching the old birds closely it never could
have been discovered.
"It contained no regular lining, though a few coarse dry leaf-stems
of a dark colour were encircled within. I observed the birds building
first on the 21st August, and the nest from below looked then almost
finished. The cock and hen worked together, flying to and fro very
busily with bits of lichen picked off the branches of another tree
adjoining. On the 25th I watched the nest for some time, but the birds
only came to it once, and then the hen bird went on and smeared some
cobwebs round the outside, at least that is what she seemed to me to
be doing. On the 28th I watched it again, and although both birds were
in the adjoining tree, I did not see them go to the nest. On the 31st,
about 10 A.M., I found the hen on the nest, and she remained on till
about 10.30, when she flew off and joined the cock, who was sitting
pluming himself on a branch of the next tree the whole time she was on
the nest. Immediately she joined him, he commenced catching flies and
feeding her, as if she were a young bird, and eventually they both
flew away together. Arriving at the conclusion that she only went on
the nest to lay, I decided on taking the nest three days later, and
accordingly returned for that purpose with a small boy on the 3rd
Sept., and found, as I expected, the hen sitting and the cock in
another tree close by.
"I sent the boy up the tree, and as he approached the nest, which was
some 30 or 35 feet from the ground, the hen bird became very uneasy,
moving her head from side to side, and looking down to see what was
going on below. When the boy was within about 10 feet of the nest she
flew off and joined the cock, after which I saw her no more. The eggs
were then secured with difficulty, as the branches surrounding the
nest were very thin and blown about a good deal by the wind.
"After breaking off the bough, nest and all, the boy descended. One
branch of the fork in which the nest was placed was rotten, and broke
off at the junction at the base of the nest as the boy was descending
the tree; but the nest, which was firmly bound to it with cobwebs,
remained in its place and was not injured, and I had the nest and
bough beautifully painted for me by a lady friend the same day. The
eggs were pale bluish green, speckled and spotted, most densely at
the large end, with two shades of dusky purple, the markings of the
lighter shade appearing to underlie those of the darker. On the
6th Sept., the same pair of birds commenced a new nest on another
mango-tree about 20 yards off. This time it was placed in a fork of
one of the small outside lateral branches about 25 feet from the
ground, and resembled in every respect the first nest. On the 15th
Sept., the hen bird began to sit, and on the 18th I sent a boy up the
tree by means of a ladder, and secured two more fresh, eggs, similar
to those already described. On this occasion the two old birds evinced
signs of the greatest anxiety, the hen remaining on the nest till the
boy was close to her, and, joined by the cock immediately she left
it, the pair kept flying from bough to bough in the greatest possible
state of excitement the whole time the nest was being taken, the hen
actually once or twice going on to the nest again after she had left
it, when the boy was within 3 feet of her. On examining the nest I
found that one of the branches of the fork consisted of a small rotten
stump, similar to the one described in the first nest, and in the
bottom of both nests there were three or four small black downy
feathers, intermingled with the dead leaf-stems that constituted the
lining."
In his recent "Notes on Birds'-nesting in Rajpootana," Lieut. H.E.
Barnes writes, "The Small Minivet breeds during July and August."
Mr. Benjamin Aitken writes:--"You say that the Small Minivet lays
during the latter half of June and throughout July and August. I
would therefore remark that on the 11th November, 1871, I saw several
newly-fledged young ones at Poona. There could be no mistake about
this, as I stood under the tree, which was a small one, and saw the
young ones being fed."
Messrs. Davidson and Wenden remark that in the Deccan it is "common,
and breeds in the rains."
The latter gentleman subsequently added the following note:--"In July,
my men found a nest with two eggs at Nulwar, Deccan. It was built on a
small branch of a tamarind-tree, 20 feet from the ground. The nest
is similar to that described in the 'Rough Draft' as being found at
Allyghur. The whole of the bark used on the outer coating is that
of tamarind-tree, and there are a good many feathers and much down
incorporated into the structure, inside and out. The eggs differ
considerably in colouring. In both the ground-colour is greenish
white. One is profusely speckled all over, but more thickly at the
smaller end, with brownish red and a few purple blotches, whilst the
other egg has the specks less numerous but larger, and chiefly on
the larger end, with little or no purple, and the small end almost
unsullied."
Finally, Mr. Oates records that "in Lower Pegu nests of this bird may
be found from the end of April to the middle of June."
The eggs are of a rather broad oval shape, and, as is often the
case even in the typical Shrikes, very blunt at both ends. The
ground-colour is a pale delicate greenish white, and they are more or
less richly marked with bright, slightly brownish-red specks, spots,
and blotches, which, always more numerous at the large end, have a
tendency there to form a mottled irregular cap. In many eggs, besides
these primary markings, a number of small faint, patches and blotches
of pale inky purple are observable, almost exclusively at the large
end. The eggs appear to be quite devoid of gloss. I have eggs both of
_Copsychus saularis_ and _Thamnobia cambaiensis_, strange as it may
seem, closely resembling, except in size, some types of this bird's
egg; and I have one egg of _Merula simillima_ from the Nilghiris,
which, though immensely larger, so far as tint, colour, and character
of ground and markings go, is positively identical with eggs that I
have of this species.
In length the eggs vary from 0·6 to 0·7 inch, and in breadth from 0·5
to 0·56 inch, but the average of twenty-eight eggs is 0·67 nearly by
0·53 inch.
501. Pericrocotus erythropygius (Jerd.). _The White-bellied
Minivet_.
Pericrocotus erythropygius (_Jerd.), Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 424; _Hume,
cat._ no. 277.
Mr. J. Davidson, C.S., is apparently the only ornithologist who has
discovered the nest of the White-bellied Minivet. Writing on the 25th
August, from Khandeish, he says:--"Yesterday I took two nests of
_Pericrocotus erythropygius_. Both nests were like those of _P.
peregrinus_, and were placed about 2½ feet from the ground in a fork
of a straggling thorn-bush among thin scrub-jungle. One contained 3
young birds, and one 3 hard-set eggs. I watched the nest, and found
the cock sitting on the eggs, and watched him for a minute, so there
is no possibility of mistake; but the eggs are not the least what I
expected. They are fairly glossy, one being very much elongated, of a
greenish-grey ground, with long longitudinal dashes of dark brown, as
unlike Minivets' eggs as they can possibly be. They were the only two
pairs I saw in a long morning walk, and the nests were easily found by
watching the birds. I wish I had known the birds were breeding where
they were, as by going three weeks ago I should probably have found
many nests, as there are miles and miles of similar jungle, and it is
barely 12 miles from Dhulia. It is very provoking. I have had great
trouble trying to make the Bhils work for me. They will bring in eggs
but not mark them down."
Later on, Mr. Davidson wrote:--"I happened to be staying a few days at
Arvee, in the extreme south of Dhulia, and found this bird breeding
there in considerable numbers. This was in the end of August (26th to
31st), and I was rather late, most of the nests containing young, and
in some cases the young were able to fly. I, however, found eight
nests with eggs (most of them hard-set). All the nests, which are
small and less ornamented than those of _P. peregrinus_, were placed
from 3 to 4 feet from the ground, in a small common thorny scrub. They
were all placed in low thin jungle, and never where the jungle was
thick and difficult to walk through. A great deal of the jungle round
Arvee is full of anjan-trees, but none of the birds seem to breed in
these."
The nests are elegant little cups, reminding one of those of
_Rhipidura albifrontata_, measuring internally about 1·75 inch in
diameter and 1 inch in depth, the thickness of the walls of the nest
being usually somewhat less than a quarter of an inch. Interiorly the
nest is composed of excessively fine flowering-stems of grasses, and
externally and on the upper edge it is densely coated with fine,
rather silky greyish-white vegetable fibres, in places more or less
felted together. It is not ornamented externally with moss and
lichen, as those of so many of the _Pericrocoti_ commonly are, only
occasionally one or two little ornamental brown patches of withered
glossy vegetable scales are worked into the exterior of the nest.
The eggs are not at all like those of the other _Pericrocoti_ with
which we are best acquainted; though less densely, and even more
streakily marked, they most remind me of the egg of _Volvocivora_, and
in a lesser degree of that of _Hemipus picatus_.
The eggs vary in shape from rather broad to rather elongated ovals.
The shell is very fine and smooth, but has scarcely any perceptible
gloss. The ground-colour is greenish or greyish white, and they are
profusely marked with comparatively fine longitudinal streaks of a
moderately dark brown, which in some lines is more of a chocolate, in
others perhaps more umber. At both ends of the egg, but especially the
smaller end, the markings often become spotty or speckly, but the fine
longitudinal streaking of the sides of the egg is very conspicuous.
In size the eggs vary from 0·69 to 0·71 in length, by 0·51 to 0·58 in
breadth. I have measured too few eggs to be able to give a reliable
average.
505. Campophaga melanoschista (Hodgs.). _The Dark-grey
Cuckoo-Shrike_.
Volvocivora melaschistos, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 415: _Hume,
Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 269.
I have never found the nest of the Dark-grey Cuckoo-Shrike. Captain
Hutton tells us:--
"This, too, is a mere summer visitor in the hills, arriving up to 7000
feet about the end of March, and breeding early in May. The nest is
small and shallow, placed in the bifurcation of a horizontal bough
of some tall oak tree, and always high up; it is composed externally
almost entirely of grey lichens picked from the tree, and lined with
bits of very fine roots or thin stalks of leaves. Seen from beneath
the tree the nest appears like a bunch of moss or lichens, and the
smallness and frailty would lead one to suppose it incapable of
holding two young birds of such size. Externally the nest is compactly
held together by being thickly pasted over with cobwebs. The eggs,
two in number, of a dull grey-green, closely and in part confluently
dashed with streaks of dusky brown."
This species, according to Mr. Hodgson's notes and drawings, breeds in
Nepal in the central districts of the hills from April to July, laying
three or four eggs. The nest is a broad shallow saucer, some 4 inches
in external diameter and 1·75 inch in height; it is placed in a fork
where two or three slender branches divide, to one or more of which it
is firmly bound with vegetable fibres and grass-roots, and is composed
of fine roots and vegetable fibres, and plastered over externally
with pieces of lichen and moss. The eggs are regular ovals, with a
pale-greenish ground, blotched and spotted with a somewhat olivaceous
brown.
A nest of this species found at Mongphoo (elevation 5500 feet) on the
15th June contained three eggs nearly ready to hatch off. The nest was
placed on a nearly horizontal fork of a small branch. It is composed
of very fine twigs loosely twisted together and coated everywhere
exteriorly with cobwebs and scraps of grey lichen. At the lower part,
which, owing to the slope of the branch, had to be thicker, it is
exteriorly about an inch and a half in height. At the upper end it is
only about half an inch high. The shallow saucer-like cavity is about
two and a half inches in diameter and about half an inch in depth.
The eggs of this species, sent me by Captain Hutton from Mussoorie,
much resemble those of _Graucalus macii_ and _C. sykesi_, but they
are decidedly longer than the latter, and the general tone of their
colouring is somewhat duller. In shape they are somewhat elongated
ovals, more or less compressed towards one end; the general colour is
greenish white, very thickly blotched and streaked with dull brown
and very pale purple. The markings are very closely set, leaving but
little of the ground-colour visible. They have little or no gloss.
They measure 1·03 by 0·72 inch, and 0·95 by 0·68 inch.
Other eggs that I have since obtained have been quite similar, but
have not had the markings quite so densely set: the secondary markings
have been greyer and less purple, and several eggs have exhibited
an appreciable gloss; others, again, were quite like those first
described and entirely devoid of gloss. They measured 0·9 to 0·98 in
length by 0·65 to 0·71 in breadth.