Part 51 (1/2)

The ground-colour is white with a faint greenish-blue tinge, and on the larger half of the egg excessively minute specks of brownish red are thinly sprinkled, except just at the crown of the egg, where the specks are denser and exhibit a tendency to form a tiny cap. On the smaller half of the egg very few, if any, specklings are to be traced.

In length the eggs measure 07 and 071, and in breadth 053 to 055.

454. Phyllergates coronatus (Jerd. & Bl.). _The Golden-headed Warbler_.

Orthotomus coronatus, _Jerd. & Bl., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 168; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 531.

Dr. Jerdon says:--”A nest and eggs were brought to me, said to be those of this bird. The nest was similar to that of the last [_O.

sutorius_], but not so carefully made; the leaves were loosely attached, and with fewer st.i.tches. The eggs were two in number, white, with rusty spots.”

455. h.o.r.eites brunneifrons, Hodgs. _The Rufous-capped Bush-Warbler_.

h.o.r.eites brunneifrons, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 163.

The egg is a rather broad oval, a good deal pointed towards the small end; the sh.e.l.l is pretty stout for the size of the egg, and is entirely devoid of gloss. The ground-colour is a pale drabby stone-colour, and all about the large end is a broad dense zone of dull brownish purple. The zone consists of a nearly confluent ma.s.s of extremely minute ill-defined speckles, and outside the zone similar speckles and tiny spots occur, though nowhere very noticeable unless closely examined.

Two eggs of this species were brought from Native Sikhim, together with one of the parent birds; they are regular ovals, slightly pointed towards the small end.

The ground-colour is dull, glossless, pinky white; the markings consist chiefly of a broad ill-defined zone of dull dark purple; the other parts of the egg are sparingly, but pretty evenly speckled and spotted with pale purple.

The eggs measure 066 by 049 and 064 by 048[A].

[Footnote A: I cannot find any note about the nest of this species amongst Mr. Hume's papers. There is nothing beyond the above two notes on the eggs.--ED.]

458. Suya crinigera, Hodgs. _The Brown Hill-Warbler_.

Suya criniger, _Hodgs., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 183; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 547.

The Brown Hill-Warbler breeds throughout the Himalayas, at elevations of from 2000 to 6000 feet, at any rate from Sikhim, where it is comparatively rare, to the borders of Afghanistan.

The breeding-season lasts from the beginning of May until the middle of July, but the majority of the birds lay during May.

A nest which I took at Dilloo, in the Kangra Valley, on the 26th May, was situated near the base of a low bush on the side of a steep hill; it was placed in the fork of several twigs near the centre of the bush, about 2 feet from the ground. It was an excessively flimsy deep cup, about 3 inches in diameter, and 2 inches in depth internally. It was composed of downy seeds of gra.s.s held together externally by a few very fine blades of gra.s.s, and irregularly and loosely lined with excessively fine gra.s.s-stems.

Many other nests subsequently obtained were similar in their materials, the great body of the nest consisting of gra.s.s-down, slightly felted together and wound round with slender blades of gra.s.s.

The nest, however, is by no means always cup-shaped; it is often covered in above, an aperture being left on one side near the top.

A nest which I found near Kotegurh is composed of fine gra.s.s _very_ loosely and slightly put together, all the inters.p.a.ces being carefully filled in with gra.s.s-down firmly felted together. The nest is nearly the shape of an egg, the entrance being on one side, and extending from about the middle to close to the top. The exterior dimensions of the nest are about 5 inches for the major axis, and 3 inches for the minor. The entrance-aperture is circular, and about 2 inches in diameter. The thickness of the nest is a little over three eighths of an inch; but the lower portion, which is lined with _very_ fine gra.s.s-stems, is somewhat thicker. The nest was in a th.o.r.n.y bush, partly suspended from just above the entrance-aperture and partly resting against, though not attached to, some neighbouring twigs. It contained seven eggs, and was taken at Kirlee (Kotegurh) on the 30th May. Of course, the position of the nest was that of an egg standing on end and not lying on its side.

They lay from five to seven eggs, and have, _I think_ two broods.

Dr. Jerdon states that ”it makes a large, loosely constructed nest of fine gra.s.s, the opening near the top a little at one side, and lays three or four eggs of a fleshy white, with numerous small rusty-red spots tending to form a ring at the large end.”

Writing about a collection of eggs made at Murree, Messrs. c.o.c.k and Marshall tell us:--”Nest built in high jungle-gra.s.s, loosely but neatly made of very fine gra.s.s and cobwebs, opening at one side near the top. Breeds late in June at about 4000 feet elevation.”

From Almorah Mr. Brooks writes that this species was ”common on hill-sides where low bushes were numerous. One nest found was suspended in a low bush, and was a very neat purse-shaped one, with an opening near the top and rather on one side. It was composed of fine soft gra.s.s of a kind which had dried green, and was intermixed with the down of plants and lined with finer gra.s.s. The eggs were four in number; the ground-colour white, speckled sparingly with light red, but having also a broad zone or ring of deeper reddish brown very near the large end--on the top of the larger end, in fact.