The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 | Page 6

30th April. It was placed in
a Cheer tree about 40 feet from the ground, and was made of sticks and
lined with dry grass 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 1·6 to 1·7 in length and from 1·2 to 1·25 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 grass 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 mass 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 grass-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 1·25 by 1·2. 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.
"_Bareilly, May 10th_.--Three fresh eggs in large nest on a mango-tree.
Nest as usual, but lined with an immense quantity of horsehair. We
brought this home and weighed it; it weighed six ounces, and horsehair
is very light."
Major C.T. Bingham writes:--
"This Crow, so common at Allahabad, is very scarce here at Delhi. In
fact I have only seen one pair.
"At Allahabad it lays in February and March. I have, however, only
found one nest, a rather loose structure of twigs and a few thick
branches with rather a deep depression in the centre. It was placed on
the very crown of a high toddy palm (_Borassus flabelliformis_) and
was unlined save for a wad of human hair, on which the eggs, two in
number, lay; these I found hard-set (on the 13th March); in colour they
were a pale greenish blue, boldly blotched, spotted, and speckled with
brown."
Colonel Butler has furnished me with the following note on the
breeding of the Jungle-Crow:--
"Belgaum, 12th March, 1880.--A nest containing four fresh eggs. It
consisted of a loose structure of sticks lined with hair and leaves, and
was placed at the top of and in the centre of a green-foliaged tree in a
well-concealed situation about 30 feet from the ground. 18th March:
Two nests, each containing three slightly incubated eggs; one of the
nests was quite low down in the centre of an 'arbor vitae' about 12 feet
from the ground. 31st March: Another nest containing four slightly
incubated eggs. Some of the latter nests were very solidly built, and not
so well Concealed. 11th April: Two more nests, containing five
incubated and three slightly incubated eggs respectively; and on the
14th April a nest containing four slightly incubated eggs. These birds,
when the eggs are at all incubated, often sit very close, especially if the
nest is in an open situation, and in many instances I have thrown
several stones at the nest, and made as much row as I could below
without driving the old bird off, and I