Part 63 (2/2)
Dr. Scully writes:--”The Indian Oriole is a seasonal visitant to the valley of Nepal, arriving about the 1st of April and departing in August. It frequents some of the central woods, gardens, and groves, and breeds in May and June.”
Colonel J. Biddulph remarks regarding the nidification of this Oriole in Gilgit:--”A summer visitant and common. Appears about the 1st of May. Nest with three eggs hard-set, taken 8th of June; several other nests taken later on.”
Writing from near Rohtuk, Mr. F.R. Blewitt says:--”The breeding-season is from the middle of May to July. The nest is made on large trees, and always suspended between the fork of a branch. I have certainly obtained more nests from the tamarind than any other kind of tree.
”The nest is cup-shaped, light, neat, and compact. The average outer diameter is 48 inches; the inner or cup-cavity about 36. Hemp-like fibre is almost exclusively used in the exterior structure of the nest, and by this it is firmly secured to the two limbs of the fork.
Cleverly indeed is this work performed, the hemp being well wrapped round the stems and then brought again into the outer framework.
Occasionally bits of cloth, thread pieces, vegetable fibres, &c. are introduced. On one occasion I got a nest with a cast-off snake-skin neatly worked into the outer material.
”The lining of the egg-cavity is simply fine gra.s.s, if we except the occasional capricious addition of a feather or two, an odd piece of cotton or rag, &c. Three appears to be the regular number of eggs.
This bird is to be found in small numbers all over the country here; its habits are well described by Jerdon. It is, as I have observed, hard to please in its choice of a nest site. I have watched it for days going backwards and forwards, from tree to tree and from fork to fork, before it made up its mind where to commence work.”
Capt. Hutton records that ”this is a common bird in the Dhoon, and arrives at Jerripanee, elevation 4500 feet, in the summer months to breed. Its beautiful cradle-like nest was taken in the Dhoon on the 29th of May, at which time it contained three pure white eggs, sparingly sprinkled over with variously sized spots of deep purplish-brown, giving the egg the appearance of having been splashed with dark mud. The spots are chiefly at the larger end, but there is no indication of a ring. The nest is a slight, somewhat cup-shaped cradle, rather longer than wide, and is so placed, between the fork of a thin branch, as to be suspended between the limbs by having the materials of the two sides bound round them. It is composed of fine dry gra.s.ses, both blade and stalk, intermixed with silky and cottony seed-down, especially at that part where the materials are wound round the two supporting twigs; and in the specimen before me there are several small silky coc.o.o.ns of a diminutive _Bombyx_ attached to the outside, the silk of which has been interwoven with the fibres of the external nest. It is so slightly constructed as to be seen through, and it appears quite surprising that so large a bird, to say nothing of the weight of the three or four young ones, does not entirely destroy it.”
From Futtehgurh, the late Mr. A. Anderson remarked:--”The nest and eggs of this bird so closely resemble those of its European congener (_O. galbula_) that little or no description is necessary. The Mango-bird lays throughout the rains, July being the princ.i.p.al month.
One very beautifully constructed nest was taken by me on the 9th July, 1872, containing four eggs, which, according to my experience, is in excess of the number usually laid. I have frequently taken only a pair of well-incubated eggs.
”Two of the four eggs above alluded to were quite fresh, while the other two were tolerably well incubated. The nest is fitted outwardly with tow, which I have never before seen. One of the pieces of cloth used in the construction of this nest was 6 inches long.”
”At Lucknow,” writes Mr. R.M. Adam, ”I found this species on the 20th May building a nest in a neem-tree, and on the 24th I took two eggs from the nest. On the 10th June I saw another pair, only making love, so they probably did not lay till the end of that month.”
Dr. Jerdon notes that he ”procured a nest at Saugor from a high branch of a banian tree in cantonments. It was situated between the forks of a branch, made of fine roots and gra.s.s, with some hair and a feather or two internally, and suspended by a long roll of cloth about three quarters of an inch wide, which it must have pilfered from a neighbouring verandah where a tailor worked. This strip was wound round each limb of the fork, then pa.s.sed round the nest beneath, fixed to the other limb, and again brought round the nest to the opposite side; there were four or five of these supports on either side. It was indeed a most curious nest, and so securely fixed that it could not have been removed till the supporting bands had been cut or rotted away. The eggs were white, with a few dark claret-coloured spots.”
Major Wardlaw Ramsay says, writing from Afghanistan:--”At Shalofyan, in the Kurrum valley, in June, I found them in great numbers: some were breeding; but as I saw quite young birds, it is probable that the nesting-season was nearly over.”
Colonel Butler contributes the following note:--”The Indian Oriole breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa in the months of May, June, and July. I took nests on the following dates:--
”24th May, 1876. A nest containing 1 fresh egg.
29th ” ” ” ” 3 fresh eggs.
12th June ” ” ” 2 much incubated eggs.
12th ” ” ” ” 3 fresh eggs.
13th ” ” ” ” 2 ”
19th ” ” ” ” 3 ”
29th ” ” ” ” 2 ”
29th ” ” ” ” 2 ”
29th ” ” ” ” 3 ”
3rd July ” ” ” 2 ”
6th ” ” ” ” 3 ”
<script>