The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, Volume 1 | Page 7

Allan O. Hume
have seen my nest-seeker within

a few yards of the nest after climbing the tree before the old bird flew
off. On the 26th of April I found two more nests, one containing four
young birds just hatched, the other three fresh eggs. On the 27th
another nest containing three fresh eggs, and on the 28th a nest of three
fresh eggs. On the 5th May two more nests containing four fresh and
four incubated eggs respectively."
"In the Nilghiris," writes Mr. Davison, "the Corby builds a coarse nest
of twigs, lined with cocoanut-fibre or dry grass high up in some
densely-foliaged tree. The eggs are usually four, often five, in number.
The birds lay in April and May."
Miss Cockburn again says:--"They build like all Crows on large trees
merely by laying a few sticks together on some strong branch,
generally very high up in the tree. I do not remember ever seeing more
than one nest on a tree at a time, so that they differ very much from the
Rook in that respect. They lay four eggs of a bluish green, with dusky
blotches and spots, and nothing can exceed the care and attention they
bestow on their young. Even when the latter are able to leave their nests
and take long flights, the parent birds will accompany them as if to
prevent their getting into mischief. The nests are found in April and
May."
Mr. J. Darling, jun., writes from the Nilghiris:--"I have found the nest
of this Crow pretty nearly all over the Nilghiris. The usual number of
eggs laid is four, but on one occasion, near the Quinine Laboratory in
the Government Gardens at Ooty, I procured six from one nest. The
breeding-season is from March to May, but I have taken eggs as early
as the 12th February."
From Ceylon, we hear from Mr. Layard that "about the villages the
Carrion-Crow builds its nest in the cocoanut-trees. In the jungles it
selects a tall tree, amid the upper branches of which it fixes a
framework of sticks, and on this constructs a nest of twigs and grasses.
The eggs, from three to five, are usually of a dull greenish-brown
colour, thickly mottled with brown, these markings being most
prevalent at the small end. They are usually laid in January and
February."
Mr. J.E. Cripps informs us that in Eastern Bengal it is "common and a
permanent resident. Occasionally found in the clumps of jungle that are
found about the country, which the next species never affects. Breeds in

the cold weather. I had noticed a pair building on a Casuarina tree in
my garden, about 50 feet off the ground, and on the 18th December,
1877, I took two perfectly fresh eggs from it; and again on the 9th
January, 1878, I found two callow young in this same nest, the birds
never having deserted it. The lining used for this nest was principally
jute-fibre--any tree is selected to build on; the nests are placed from 15
to 50 feet off the ground. Some nests are very well concealed, whereas
others are quite exposed. On the 15th January I found a nest about 15
feet up a small kudum tree, standing in a large plain, and which had a
lining of hair from the tail-tufts of cows. There was one fresh egg, and
a week later I got another fresh egg from this very nest. From two to
four eggs are in each nest."
Mr. Oates writes from Pegu:--"These birds all begin to build about the
same time, and I have taken numerous nests at the end of January. At
the end of February most nests contain young birds."
Mr. W. Theobald gives the following notes on the nidification of this
bird in Tenasserim and near Deoghur:--
"Lays in the third week of February and fourth week of March: eggs
ovato-pyriform; size 1·66 by 1·15; colour, dull sap-green much
blotched with brown; nest carefully placed in tall trees."
The eggs, though smaller, closely resemble, as might have been
expected, those of the Raven, but they are, I think, typically somewhat
broader and shorter. Almost every variety, as far as coloration goes, to
be found amongst those of the Raven, are found amongst the eggs of
the present species, and _vice versâ_; and for a description of these it is
only necessary to refer to the account of the former species; but I may
notice that amongst the eggs of _C. macrorhynchus_ I have not yet
noticed any so boldly blotched as is occasionally the case with some of
the eggs of the Raven, which remind one not a little, so far as the
character of the markings go, of eggs of Oedicnemus crepitans and
Esacus recurvirostris. Like those of the Raven the eggs exhibit little
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