The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds.

by Allan O. Hume, Edited by Eugene William Gates.

Order Pa.s.sERES. Family CORVIDAE. Subfamily CORVINAE.

1. Corvus corax, Linn. _The Raven_.

Corvus corax, _Linn., Jerd. B. Ind. ii_, p. 293.

Corvus lawrencii, _Hume_; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E_. no. 657.

I separated the Punjab Raven under the name of _Corvus lawrencei_ ('Lah.o.r.e to Yarkand,' p. 83), and I then stated, what I wish now to repeat, that if we are prepared to consider _C. corax, C. littoralis, C. thibeta.n.u.s_, and _C. j.a.ponensis_ all as one and the same species, then _C. lawrencei_ too must be suppressed; but if any of these are retained as distinct, then so must _C. lawrencei_ be[A].

[Footnote A: I think it impossible to separate the Punjab Raven from the Ravens of Europe and other parts of the world, and I have therefore merged it into _C. corax_.--ED.]

The Punjab Raven breeds throughout the Punjab (except perhaps in the Dehra Ghazee Khan District), in Bhawulpoor, Bikaneer, and the northern portions of Jeypoor and Jodhpoor, extending rarely as far south as Sambhur. To Sindh it is merely a seasonal visitant, and I could not learn that they breed there, nor have I ever known of one breeding anywhere east of the Jumna. Even in the Delhi Division of the Punjab they breed sparingly, and one must go further north and west to find many nests.

The breeding-season lasts from early in December to quite the end of March; but this varies a little according to season and locality, though the majority of birds always, I think, lay in January.

The nest is generally placed in single trees of no great size, standing in fields or open jungle. The th.o.r.n.y Acacias are often selected, but I have seen them on Sisoo and other trees.

The nest, placed in a stout fork as a rule, is a large, strong, compact, stick structure, very like a Rook's nest at home, and like these is used year after year, whether by the same birds or others of the same species I cannot say. Of course they never breed in company: I _never_ found two of their nests within 100 yards of each other, and, as a rule, they will not be found within a quarter of a mile of each other.

Five is, I think, the regular complement of eggs; very often I have only found four fully incubated eggs, and on two or three occasions six have, I know, been taken in one nest, though I never myself met with so many.

I find the following old note of the first nest of this species that I ever took:--

"At Hansie, in Skinner's Beerh, December 19, 1867, we found our first Raven's nest. It was in a solitary Keekur tree, which originally of no great size had had all but two upright branches lopped away. Between these two branches was a large compact stick nest fully 10 inches deep and 18 inches in diameter, and not more than 20 feet from the ground.

It contained five slightly incubated eggs, which the old birds evinced the greatest objection to part with, not only flying at the head of the man who removed them, but some little time after they had been removed similarly attacking the man who ascended the tree to look at the nest. After the eggs were gone, they sat themselves on a small branch above the nest side by side, croaking most ominously, and shaking their heads at each other in the most amusing manner, every now and then alternately descending to the nest and scrutinizing every portion of the cavity with their heads on one side as if to make sure that the eggs were really gone."

Mr. W. Theobald makes the following note of this bird's nidification in the neighbourhood of Pind Dadan Khan and Katas in the Salt Range:--

"Lay in January and February; eggs, four only; shape, ovato-pyriform; size, 17 by 13; colour, dirty sap green, blotched with blackish brown; also pale green spotted with greenish brown and neutral; nest of sticks difficult to get at, placed in well-selected trees or holes in cliffs."

I have not verified the fact of their breeding in holes in cliffs, but it is very possible that they do. All I found near Pind Dadan Khan and in the Salt Range were doubtless in trees, but I explored a very limited portion of these hills.

Colonel C.H.T. Marshall, writing from Bhawulpoor on the 17th February, says: "I succeeded yesterday in getting four eggs of the Punjab Raven.

The eggs were hard-set and very difficult to clean."

From Sambhur Mr. R.M. Adam tells us:--"This Raven is pretty common during the cold weather, but pairs are seen about here throughout the year. They are very fond of attaching themselves to the camps of the numerous parties of Banjaras who visit the lake.

"I obtained a nest at the end of January which contained three eggs, and a fourth was found in the parent bird. The nest was about 15 feet from the ground in a Kaggera tree (_Acacia leucophloea_) which stood on a bare sandy waste with no other tree within half a mile in any direction."

The eggs of the Punjab bird are, as might be expected, much the same as those of the European Raven. In shape they are moderately broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards the small end, but, as in the Oriole, greatly elongated varieties are very common, and short globular ones almost unknown. The texture of the egg is close and hard, but they usually exhibit little or no gloss. In the colour of the ground, as well as in the colour, extent, and character of the markings, the eggs vary surprisingly. The ground-colour is in some a clear pale greenish blue; in others pale blue; in others a dingy olive; and in others again a pale stone-colour. The markings are blackish brown, sepia and olive-brown, and rather pale inky purple.

Some have the markings small, sharply defined, and thinly sprinkled: others are extensively blotched and streakily clouded; others are freckled or smeared over the entire surface, so as to leave but little, if any, of the ground-colour visible. Often several styles of marking and shades of colouring are combined in the same egg. Almost each nest of eggs exhibits some peculiarity, and varieties are endless. With sixty or seventy eggs before one, it is easy to pick out in almost every case all the eggs that belong to the same nest, and this is a peculiarity that I have observed in the eggs of many members of this family. All the eggs out of the same nest usually closely resemble each other, while almost _any_ two eggs out of different nests are markedly dissimilar.

They vary from 172 to 225 in length, and from 12 to 137 in width; but the average of seventy-two eggs measured is 194 by 131.

Mandelli's men found four eggs of the larger Sikhim bird in Native Sikhim, high up towards the snows, where they were shooting Blood-Pheasants.

These eggs are long ovals, considerably pointed towards one end; the sh.e.l.l is strong and firm, and has scarcely any gloss. The ground-colour is pale bluish green, and the eggs are smudged and clouded all over with pale sepia; on the top of the eggs there are a few small spots and streaks of deep brownish black. They were found on the 5th March, and vary in length from 183 to 196, in breadth from 118 to 125.

3. Corvus corone, Linn. _The Carrion-Crow_.

Corvus corone, _Linn., Jerd. B. Ind._ ii, p. 295; _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 659[A].

[Footnote A: Mr. Hume, at one time separated the Indian Carrion-Crow from _Corvus corone_ under the name _C. pseudo-corone_. In his 'Catalogue' he re-unites them. I quite agree with him that the two birds are inseparable.--ED.]

The only Indian eggs of the Carrion-Crow which I have seen, and one of which, with the parent bird, I owe to Mr. Brooks, were taken by the latter gentleman on the 30th May at Sonamerg, Cashmere.

The eggs were broad ovals, somewhat compressed towards one end, and of the regular Corvine type--a pretty pale green ground, blotched, smeared, streaked, spotted, and clouded, nowhere very profusely but most densely about the large end, with a greenish or olive-brown and pale sepia. The brown is a brighter and greener, or duller and more olive, lighter or darker, in different eggs, and even in different parts of the same egg. The sh.e.l.l is fine and close, but has only a faint gloss.

The eggs only varied from 167 to 168 in length, and from 114 to 118 in breadth.

Whether this bird breeds regularly or only as a straggler in Cashmere we do not know; it is always overlooked and pa.s.sed by as a "Common Crow." Future visitors to Cashmere should try and clear up both the ident.i.ty of the bird and all particulars about its nidification.

4. Corvus macrorhynchus, Wagler. _The Jungle-Crow_.

Corvus culminatus, _Sykes, Jerd. B, Ind._ ii, p. 295, Corvus levaillantii; _Less., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 660.

The Jungle-Crow (under which head I include[A] _C. culminatus,_ Sykes, _C. intermedius_, Adams, _C. andamanensis_, Tytler, and each and all of the races that occur within our limits) breeds almost everywhere in India, alike in the low country and in the hills both of Southern and Northern India, to an elevation of fully 8000 feet.

[Footnote A: See 'Stray Feathers,' vol. ii. 1874, p. 243, and 'Lah.o.r.e to Yarkand,' p. 85.]

March to May is, I consider, the normal breeding-season; in the plains the majority lay in April, rarely later, and in the hills in May; but in the plains a few birds lay also in February.

The nest is placed as a rule on good-sized trees and pretty near their summits. In the plains mangos and tamarinds seem to be preferred, but I have found the nests on many different kinds of trees. The nest is large, circular, and composed of moderate-sized twigs; sometimes it is thick, ma.s.sive, and compact; sometimes loose and straggling; always with a considerable depression in the centre, which is smoothly lined with large quant.i.ties of horsehair, or other stiff hair, gra.s.s, gra.s.s-roots, cocoanut-fibre, &c. In the hills they use _any_ animal's hair or fur, if the latter is pretty stiff. They do not, according to my experience, affect luxuries in the way of soft down; it is always something moderately stiff, of the coir or horsehair type; nothing soft and fluffy. Coa.r.s.e human hair, such as some of our native fellow-subjects can boast of, is often taken, when it can be got, in lieu of horsehair.

They lay four or five eggs. I have quite as often found the latter as the former number. I have never myself seen six eggs in one nest, but I have heard, on good authority, of six eggs being found.

Captain Unwin writes: "I found a nest of the Bow-billed Corby in the Agrore Valley, containing four eggs, on the 30th April. It was placed in a Cheer tree about 40 feet from the ground, and was made of sticks and lined with dry gra.s.s and hair."

Mr. W. Theobald makes the following remarks on the breeding of this bird in the Valley of Cashmere:--

"Lays in the third week of April. Eggs four in number, ovato-pyriform, measuring from 16 to 17 in length and from 12 to 125 in breadth.

Colour green spotted with brown; valley generally. Nest placed in Chinar and difficult trees."

Captain Hutton tells us that the Corby "occurs at Mussoorie throughout the year, and is very destructive to young fowls and pigeons; it breeds in May and June, and selects a tall tree, near a house or village, on which to build its nest, which is composed externally of dried sticks and twigs, and lined with gra.s.s and hair, which latter material it will pick from the backs of horses and cows, or from skins of animals laid out to dry. I have had skins of the Surrow (_Noemorhaedus thar_) nearly destroyed by their depredations. The eggs are three or four in number."

From the plains I have very few notes. I transcribe a few of my own.

"On the 11th March, near Oreyah, I found a nest of a Corby--good large stick nest, built with tamarind twigs, and placed fully 40 feet from the ground in the fork of a mango-tree standing by itself. The nest measured quite 18 inches in diameter and five in thickness. It was a nearly flat platform with a central depression 8 inches in diameter, and not more than 2 deep, but there was a solid pad of horsehair more than an inch thick below this. I took the ma.s.s out; it must have weighed half a pound. Four eggs much incubated.

"_Etawah, 14th March_.--Another nest at the top of one of the huge tamarind-trees behind the Asthul: could not get up to it. A boy brought the nest down; it was not above a foot across, and perhaps 3 inches deep; cavity about 6 inches in diameter, thickly lined with gra.s.s-roots, inside which again was a coating of horsehair perhaps a rupee in thickness; nest swarming with vermin. Eggs five, quite fresh; four eggs normal; one quite round, a pure pale slightly greenish blue, with only a few very minute spots and specks of brown having a tendency to form a feeble zone round the large end. Measures only 125 by 12. Neither in shape, size, nor colour is it like a Corby's egg; but it is not a Koel's, or that of any of our parasitic Cuckoos, and I have seen at home similar pale eggs of the Rook, Hooded Crow, Carrion-Crow, and Raven.