[Footnote A: Mr. Hume does not recognize _E. javanensis_ and _E.
intermedia_ as distinct. The following account refers to the
nidification of the latter, except perhaps Major Bingham's later note,
in which he states that he procured two distinct sizes of eggs in the
Meplay valley (Thoungyeen). It is very probable that Major Bingham
found the nests of both species on this occasion. I have seen no
specimen of _E. javanensis_ from the Thoungyeen valley, but at
Malewun, further south, it occurs along with _E. intermedia_.--ED.]
Eulabes intermedia (_A. Hay_), _Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 339.
Eulabes javanensis (_Osbeck_), _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 693.
The Indian Grackle, under which name I include _E. andamanensis_,
Tytler, breeds, I know, in the Nepal Terai and in the Kumaon Bhabur;
and many are the young birds that I have seen extracted by the natives
out of holes, high up in large trees, in the old anti-mutiny days when
we used to go tiger-shooting in these grand jungles. I never saw the
eggs however, which, I think, must have all been hatched off in May,
when we used to be out.
"In the Andamans," writes Davison, "they breed in April and May,
building a nest of grass, dried leaves, &c. in holes of trees." He
also, however, never took the eggs.
Mr. J.R. Cripps tells us that this species is "common during March to
October in Dibrugarh, after which it retires to the hills which border
the east and south of the district. About the tea-gardens of Dibrugarh
there are always a number of dead trees standing, and in these the
Grackles nest, choosing those that are rotten, in which they excavate
a hole. I have seen numbers of nests, but as these were so high up and
the tree so long dead and rotten, no native would risk going up."
Mr. J. Inglis notes from Cachar:--"This Hill-Mynah is common in the
hilly district. It breeds in the holes of trees during April, May, and
June."
Major C.T. Bingham writes from Tenasserim:--"I saw several nest-holes
of this bird, which was very common in the Reserve, but none of them
were accessible; and it wasn't till the 18th April that I chanced on
one in a low tree, the nest being in the hollow of a stump of a broken
branch. It was composed and loosely put together of grass, leaves, and
twigs, and contained three half-fledged young and one addled egg of
a light blue colour, spotted, chiefly at the large end with purplish
brown."
The eggs very similar to those of _E. religiosa_, but, what is very
surprising, it is very considerably _smaller_.
Of _E. religiosa_ the eggs vary from 1·2 to 1·37 in length, and from
0·86 to 0·9 in breadth, and the average of eight is 1·31 by 0·88.
This present egg only measures 1·12 by 0·8, and it must, I should
fancy, be abnormally small.
In shape it is an extremely regular oval. The ground is a pale
greenish blue, and it is spotted and blotched pretty thickly at the
large end (where all the larger markings are) and very thinly at the
smaller end with purple and two shades (a darker and lighter one) of
chocolate-brown, the latter colour much predominating. The shell is
very fine and close, but has but little gloss.
And later on Major Bingham again wrote:--"One of the commonest and
most widely spread birds in the province. The following is an account
of its nidification:--
"This bird lays two distinct sizes of eggs, all, however, of the same
type and coloration. Out of holes in neighbouring trees, on the
bank of the Meplay, on the 13th March, 1880, I took two nests, one
containing three, and the other two eggs. The first lot of eggs
measured respectively 1·15 x 0·77, 1·15 x 0·80, and 1·16 x 0·79 inch;
while those in the second nest 1·30 x 0·95, and 1·27 x 0·93 inch
respectively. All the eggs, however, are a pale blue, spotted chiefly
at the larger end with light chocolate. The nests were in natural
hollows in the trees, and lined with grass and leaves loosely put
together."
The eggs apparently vary extraordinarily in size; they are generally
more or less elongated ovals, some slightly pyriform and slightly
obtuse at both ends, some rather pointed towards the small end. The
shell in all is very fine and compact and smooth, but some have
scarcely any appreciable gloss, while others have a really fine gloss.
The ground-colour is pretty uniform in all, a delicate pale greenish
blue. The markings are always chiefly confined to one end, usually the
broad end; even about the large end they are never very dense, and
elsewhere they are commonly very sparse or almost or altogether
wanting. In some eggs the markings are pretty large irregular blotches
mingled with small spots and specks, but in many eggs again the
largest spot does not exceed one twelfth of an inch in diameter. In
colour these markings are normally a chocolate, often with more or
less of a brown tinge, in some of the small spots so thickly laid on
as to be almost black, in many of the larger blotches becoming only a
pale reddish purple, or here and there a pale purplish grey. In some
eggs all the markings are pale and washed out, in others all are
sharply defined and intense in colour. Occasionally some of the
smaller spots become almost a yellowish brown.