Artamus fuscus, _V., Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 441; _Hume, Rough Draft N. &
E._ no. 287.
Mr. R. Thompson says:--"I have frequently found the nests of the Ashy
Swallow-Shrike, and have watched the old birds constructing them, but
never took down their eggs. Two or three pairs may always be found
nesting on the long-leaved pine, as one comes up from Kaladoongee to
Nyneetal and passes halfway up from the first dâk chokee at Ghutgurh.
They lay in May and June, constructing their nest on the horizontal
extension of a main branch of some lofty tree, generally _Pinus
longifolia_. The nest, composed of fine grasses, roots, and fibres,
is a loose, only slightly cup-shaped structure, some 5 inches in
diameter."
Dr. Jerdon says on the other hand:--"I have procured the nest of this
bird situated on a palmyra tree on the stem of the leaf. It was a deep
cup-shaped nest, made of grass, leaves, and numerous feathers, and
contained two eggs, white with a greenish tinge, and with light brown
spots, chiefly at the larger end. I see that Mr. Layard procured the
nest in Ceylon, where this bird is common, in the heads of cocoanut
trees, made of fibres and grasses, and it was probably the nest of
this bird that was brought to Tickell as that of the Palm-Swift."
According to Mr. Hodgson this species begins to lay in March, the
young being fledged in June; the nest is a broad shallow saucer, from
6 to 8 inches in diameter, composed of grass and roots, together with
a little lichen, loosely put together, a green leaf or two being
sometimes found as a lining to the nest. The nest is placed on some
broad horizontal branch, where two or three slender twigs or shoots
grow out of it, or on the top of some stump of a tree, or broken end
of a branch, generally, at a considerable height from the ground. The
eggs are _figured_ as white, spotted and blotched almost exclusively
at the large end with yellowish brown, and measuring 0·8 by 0·52 inch,
but no actual measurements are recorded.
Mr. Gammie, however, himself found, and kindly sent me, a nest and
eggs of this species, at Mongpho near Darjeeling, at an elevation of
about 3500 feet, on the 13th May, 1873. It was placed in the hole of a
trunk of a dead tree at a height of about 40 feet from the ground, and
it contained three hard-set eggs. The nest was a loose shallow saucer
of coarse roots devoid of lining. The eggs were rather narrow ovals,
a good deal pointed towards one end; the shell fine and with a slight
gloss. The ground-colour was creamy white, and the markings, which are
almost entirely confined to a broad ring round the large end and the
space within it, consisted of spots and clouds of very pale yellowish
brown, intermingled with clouds and specks of excessively pale, nearly
washed out, lilac.
He subsequently furnished me with the following note from Sikhim:--"In
the hills this bird is migratory, coming about the last week in
February and leaving in the last week of October. It is exceedingly
abundant on the outer ridges running in from the Teesta Valley, and
most numerous about the elevation of 3000 feet, but stragglers get up
as high as 5000 feet. It prefers dry ridges on which there are a
few scattered tall trees, from the tops of which it can make short
flights, over the open country, after insects. It goes very little
abroad in the height of the day, and feeds principally in the
evenings. It rarely keeps on the wing for more than a minute or two at
a time, but occasionally will fly for ten minutes on end. It is quite
as bold and persevering in its habit of attacking and driving off
hawks and kites as the king-crow. Towards the end of September it
begins to congregate in rows along dead branches in the tops of trees.
"It begins to lay in April and, I think, has only one brood in the
year. It builds in holes of trees, on surfaces of large horizontal
branches 30 or 40 feet up, or in depressions in ends of lofty stumps.
The nest is a shallow saucer, made entirely of light-coloured roots
and twigs loosely put together. The usual number of eggs appears to be
three."
Mr. J.R. Cripps informs us that at Furreedpore in Eastern Bengal this
species is "common, and a permanent resident, very partial to perching
on the tips of bamboos, and I have seen as many as 13 sitting side
by side on a bamboo tip. I took seven nests this season, all from
date-trees (_Phoenix sylvestris_), which trees are very common in the
district. The nest is generally built at the junction of the leaf-stem
and the trunk of the tree, though in two instances the nest was placed
on a ledge from which all leaves had been removed to enable the tree
to be tapped for its juice. In every instance the nest was exposed,
and if any bird, even a hawk, came near, these courageous little
fellows would drive it off. My nests were found from the 5th April to
6th June; shallow saucers made of fine twigs and grasses with a lining
of the same, and contained two to four eggs in each. Height of nest
from ground about 12 to 15 feet. On the 17th April I took two fresh
eggs from a nest, and the birds laying again, I, on the 8th May,
again took three fresh eggs. When on the wing they utter their note,
generally returning to the same perch."